Electrical Equipment in Petaluma, California, has a customer who manufactures filter systems for North American and International alcohol distillery manufacturers. They've worked with Sprecher + Schuh to build 15 explosion proof panels ranging from 5HP to 30HP over a period of 2 years for this customer.
Electrical Equipment receives the distillery filter systems directly from Italy where they are built. The systems require multiple modifications as well as an explosion proof panel to run the 15HP pumps which recycle the alcohol through a diatomaceous earth (DE) filter. Electrical Equipment chose to use Sprecher + Schuh panels and work with our Engineering Team for the panel design.
Electrical Equipment adds to the filter system a sight glass with photo optics powered by a 12V AC system which enables a person to view the clarity of the liquid while processing. A small 3/4HP mixer is added to agitate the DE material to keep the filters clean. There is also a 1/2HP vibrator attached to the filter tank to keep the material from settling.
The explosion proof enclosures built by Sprecher + Schuh are a thing of beauty. The purpose of these enclosures is to provide safety for handling the highly flammable liquid. The panel houses 3-component starters (KTB7+CA7+CEP7) with a main circuit breaker & C.P.T, and Start/Stop Pushbuttons for Pump Motor/Mixer Motor/Vibrator Motor. A high pressure cut-out switch is included as a safety mechanism for the filter. If the filter plugs up, the switch shuts down the complete system because of over pressure. A Warrick intrinsically safe relay is installed in the panel for the remote pressure switch for arc flash protection. The Sprecher + Schuh Engineering Team recommended a side mounted CEP7-ERR module for reset via front mounted red push buttons. This eliminated the extra step of lining up mechanical resets and provided a means of external reset.
