Bayer in Leverkusen, Germany
Shorter construction periods and higher safety standard

Bayer is represented by about 350 companies and 117000 employees in five continents.

Dipl.Ing. Manfred Wegener, head of Electronics/MSR installation at the Leverkusen works of Bayer AG

The corporate headquarters of the pharmaceutical-chemical company are in Leverkusen. Bayer offers a wide range of products starting from health, nutrition and plastic products to special chemical products.

Application

Bayer is a leading manufacturer of raw materials for high quality coating systems that are used in vehicle coating, vehicle repairs and industrial coating. It also manufactures the hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) coating raw material which is processed to form Desmodur® N polyurethane binders.

Bayer AG is now expanding its scope to HDI production to meet the increasing demands. 48 million euros have been invested in a 35 meter high independent unit with an adjoining tank farm. The ZT-FM PLT installation specialist department of the Bayer plant is in charge of this unit.

A total of 1200 process control technology points (PLT) have been wired including 960 sensors, 351 actuators and 88 motors. 100 distributor boxes (VKE) installed on site bundle signals and send them to the control system. These are used in explosion-protected areas of EEx i intrinsic safety and EEx e increased safety.

Solution

Shorter construction periods and high safety standards were instrumental in the decision to install the QUICKON fast connection terminal blocks from Phoenix Contact.

The design of the terminal strip was decided together with the CEAG Sicherheitstechnik GmbH, the manufacturer of the distributor boxes.

The hybrid versions of QUICKON and ST spring-cage terminal blocks were used. This terminal block type, which has been approved for use in the EExe area as per the ATEX directive, allows optimum use of the advantages of both connection methods.

The sensors, actuators and motors which are equipped with wires of various connection cross sections are connected via the standardized spring-cage connection. The QUICKON fast connection technology reduces the time required to wire the 32-pos. lead-coated master cable installed in every box.

Summary

Contacting is done after the wire is cut to length by simply levering it with a screwdriver. There is no need to strip the wire or use ferrules as splicing protection.

Advantages of the QUICKON fast connection technology: - no stripping - special tools not required - 60% faster wiring

Conductor connections of 0.34 to 2.5 mm² are established using various terminal block types with 1.5 and 2.5 mm² nominal cross sections. The QUICKON fast connection technology surpasses the requirements of the relevant standards (EN 60998, EN 60947...)