Interel Trading has found in Bennet SpA a knowledgeable and proactive customer, who over time has been able to embrace the evolution of automation standards. This collaboration, which started in the early 1990s, has led to a constant updating of the solutions installed in the field.
Bennet SpA was the first Italian large-scale retail operator to install a DALI digital system in its sales areas for the control and diagnostics of lighting fixtures. The robustness and standardisation of the technical solutions enable the efficient integration of the Industry 4.0 philosophy.
Key components of the shopping centre automation system are the Intermod™ automation bus, patented by Interel Trading, and the Movicon™ supervision system from Progea. Both are standard features incorporated into both the very first installations and those due to be built in the near future.
Interel Trading’s CEO, Ms Zublasing, notes: “The Intermod bus is the ideal solution for large-scale installations, thanks to its extreme robustness, record-breaking extension and low cost. The key feature of the architecture deployed is service reliability, with guaranteed operation in the event of any fault scenario… from the supervision server right down to the individual field card.”
The HMI is based on Progea’s Movi-con 11.6™ platform and is installed on a Divus GmbH touchscreen PC. Local access to the machine is controlled via different user levels and allows authorised operators to command, monitor and schedule the automation of lighting and equipment. All these functions, as well as the ability to view logs and alarm history, are available directly from the customer’s control centre.
Intermod™ and Movicon™ natively support standard communication protocols, as does Beckhoff’s automation technology. Integration of this new component was therefore straightforward. Movicon comes with the Twincat ADS communication driver pre-installed, allowing the import and export of Beckhoff PLC tags to be set up in just a few clicks.
Digital control is evolving to become even more user-friendly and open, thanks to PC-based control
The automation system at the Bennet centres is spread across several areas and control panels, where we find both IB8.8 modules (for managing alarm contacts and ON/OFF load controls) and DALI 2.0 control islands managed by CX8180™ embedded PCs. As the Interel Trading technicians explain: “The adoption of the DALI 2.0 standard ensures compatibility with the DALI drivers already installed over the years and allows us to integrate all active sensors (light and presence sensors) onto the same bus, which would otherwise have to be wired separately”.
The electrical system becomes a hub for services
Technology must adapt to the rapid growth in the services offered by large-scale retail. At Bennet SpA, for example, smart online shopping services and support for green mobility have been in place for some time. To meet these demands, Interel Trading’s new platform can integrate IoT functions based on wireless technologies and support plant maintenance through automated checks (such as autonomous testing of emergency lights with automatic report generation) or predictive maintenance. Integration must take place not only at the level of field devices but also in the communication between supervisory systems. In this regard, Interel Trading’s systems make the collected data available via the most advanced and secure communication protocols: MQTT and OPC UA. The security and protection of data exchange are guaranteed through the exchange of TLS/SSL certificates, the standard used for bank transactions.
