Automatic Distillation Analyzer

Client's Overview:

A leading producer and supplier of petroleum, synfuels and petrochemical instrumentation worldwide.

Challenges:

The client was looking to outsource the development of a “Distillation Analyzer” used for analysis of petroleum products, solvents, and other volatile organic liquids in the petrochemical labs, with an aim to –

  • Own the IP and add the product to their Petrochemical testing solutions portfolio.
  • Build an automatic analyzer which needs to run with high level accuracy and performing analysis as per the ASTM standards.

Solution and Approach:

Alpha ICT was awarded the entire end-to-end product development work under an “Outsource Product Development” model.

The Automatic Distillation Analyzer was comprehensively designed and developed as a benchtop instrument-

  • Combining the proven & emerging technologies around “Embedded Electronics, Mechatronics, HMI & Software Applications
  • Ensuring conformity to rigid quality control standards- testing, processing results, and reports according to ASTM specifications.

Results

A. The outsource product development engagement covered the entire lifecycle-

  • Requirements Elaboration & Product Specification finalization
  • Prototype Development including-
    • Embedded Controller
    • Instrument Control & Operations
    • Mechatronics
    • HMI – Capacitive Display & Industry aligned UI/UX design & development
    • Connectivity & Communication with backend & third-party Lab systems
    • Product Enclosure / Housing- design & development
  • Product Finalization & Validation
  • Support for Manufacturing Release

B. The benchtop instrument was successfully delivered addressing specific requirements-

  • Temperature Control to the tune of 0-60dC
  • Precise Quantitative Measurement with 0.1 ml accuracy
  • Precise & controlled movements
  • Modern HMI
  • BOM enabling competitive product pricing

C. Compliance with specified standards or specifications- ASTM D86, D850, D1078, IP195, IP123, EN ISO 3405, ASTM D189, D524, D4530

Outcome:

The solution was successfully deployed at fuel refineries, contract laboratories, research laboratories and end-use facilities for –

  • Volatility Testing
  • Quality Control
  • Petroleum & Petrochemical Research
  • Temperature regulation using Peltier modules
  • LVDS based capacitive display interface
  • PWM controlled heater element
  • Electromechanical ball-screw assembly for precision movement
  • Reflection based IR drop detection
  • Interrupt driven IR sensor system for real-time volume measurement
  • Full PID based process control
  • Django framework
  • Python, Java, HTML, CSS for application development
  • Docker for containerized deployments
  • PostgreSQL database management system

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