As an OEM and integrator CTX Automation has designed machinery and control systems for plant and factory automation since 1992. Our field experiences provide the necessary knowledge to serve a variety of industries and applications.
Our focus includes supplying our customers with process control and instrumentation solutions utilizing PLCs, Drives, and HMI systems.
CTX Automation is a division of Clemtex.
Automation services
Plant Floor & Factory Automation
Process Integration
PLC & HMI Program
Development
Legacy System Upgrades
CAD – 2D & 3D Drawing
and Planning
Project Management
On-site Installation,
Testing and Training
On-site and Remote
Support
Areas of Expertise
- Dense phase and lean phase recovery of fluidized materials
- Use of pneumatic driven vacuum producers, motor powered cyclones and air pressure vessels
- Medias include powders and granular products (abrasive and non-abrasive)
- Recovery/recycling and separation of particle size
- Controlled transfer rate of material in a process
Pneumatic
- Dense phase recovery of heavy material
- Use of augers, belt conveyors and bucket elevators
- Medias include abrasives, shot, metallic and non-metallic
- Recovery/recycling and separation through screening, sieving and air wash
Mechanical
- Media recovery and/or metering for surface preparation
- Inventory and dispensing of materials in chemical process areas
Applications
- Pressure tanks (2 quart to 60 gallon capacity)
- Diaphragm and piston pumps for fast distribution
Pneumatic
- Gear pumps for precise distribution
- Electric piston pumps for high pressure distribution
- Peristaltic pumps for highest precision distribution
Mechanical
- Batch mixing processes
- Precise coating of parts (spray booths and coating lines)
- Precise coating of internal diameter tubes (pipe, stators, risers, etc.)
- Inventory and dispensing of materials in hazardous areas
Applications
- Piston cylinders for lifting and clamping
- 90deg actuators for valve manipulation
Pneumatic
- Motor starters for 1PH and 3PH motors
- Variable frequency drives for 3PH inductive motors
- Servo drives for pulse and servo motors
Mechanical
- Limit switching with use of physical contracts, inductive sensing switches and photoelectric switches
- Linear position feedback using incremental and absolute encoders
- Vertical position feedback using incremental and absolute encoders
- PID loop attenuation and drive speed control
Technology
- Custom designed to customers' needs
- Control panels and process instrumentation to meet area classifications
- Touch-screen or push button controls
- Detailed process and electrical drawings
- Systems optimized with intuitive operator interface
Design
- Programming designed for easy system expansion
- Turnkey field installation
- Communication with other control systems
- Optional remote and cloud connectivity
Programming and integration
- Position - limit switches
- Level – probes and float valves
- Weight – load cell and stain gauge
- Pressure – pneumatic and fluid measurement
- Flow – Gear and paddle gauges
- Temperature – Probe, thermocouple and thermowell measurement
- Surface treatment – surface profile and coating thickness
Physical
- Position – Inductive, photoelectric and laser
- Level – radar and ultra sonic sensing
- Flow – Coriolis and ultra sonic sensing
- Temperature – inferred transmitting
- Environmental – atmospheric dew point, temperature and relative humidity
Touchless
- Motor and process timers for life information
- Process instrumentation values
- Preventative maintenance reporting
- Warnings and alarms
Logging and reporting
- Data visualization
- Units and metrics
- Built to be scaled easily and deployed quickly
Minsphere connectivity - cloud-based IoT solutions
Solutions
Fluids Mixing Plant Control System Upgrade
- Burdened with severely outdated control, this customer contacted us to do a full-plant upgrade of their control system. This chemical mixing plant creates various products by mixing chemicals into large blending tanks. Their facility contains multiple mix tanks and chemical storage tanks. The full system consisted of more than 100 valves and 20 pumps. The system's I/O was quite extensive with valve feedback, pump control, weigh system feedback, level sensors, pressure transmitters and more.
- CTX Automation's team of engineers designed, programmed and installed a new automated control system to the customer's specifications. The images show the main control panel before and after the installation.
Mud motor and PC Pump Surface Preparation Systems
- Our team has successfully designed and built numerous systems to blast and coat stators and rotors for drilling motors and artificial lifts. Our designs fully enclose the process areas to keep all moving parts away from blasting and overspray. This ensures minimal downtime and maintenance.
- We've learned through our years serving this industry the importance of minimizing debonding and adhesion failures. Our systems are designed with this in mind so that they produce accurate, uniform and repeatable blast profiles and coating thicknesses.
PID Speed Controlled Winch
- Because of our background in blasting and coating, a company specializing in solutions for tall and difficult to access structures and systems contacted us about blasting and coating a very tall stack (chimney). This particular stack was over 350 ft tall and 6 feet in diameter. The customer's wishes were that they would be able to blast and coat the inside of the stack without having an operator inside.
- To accomplish this, CTX Automation's engineering team designed a PID controlled winch to precisely control the speed of the blasting and coating tools that would be suspended inside the stack. The winch was programmable to very precise work speed to ensure a consistent blast profile and coating thickness.
Plural Component Fluid Mixing System
- Using a unique manufacturing process, this customer applies a plural component coating to a bead-type product in a tumbler. Issues with inconsistent mixing and coating application as well as an inefficient setup for operators plagued this customer before they approached CTX Automation for a solution.
- Our team designed a comprehensive control system to accurately and efficiently spray their coating. After completion of this system, the final product yield increased from 45% to 95%, as well as a significant reduction of waste from a clean up solvent, and decreased labor requirements.
Compressor Control System
- A customer with four independent compressors had issues connecting all compressors to the same plant air system. The lack of communication between compressors caused the system to be extremely inefficient and hard on the compressors.
- We designed a control system to allow the compressors to communicate effetely as well as rotate the load as necessary to increase efficiency.