Kevin Preston, group manager IMA & IE at Phoenix Contact South Africa.
By Diane Silcock
THIS past year has seen Phoenix Contact launch a variety of new products onto the market, with Electra Mining being the ideal platform for the company to showcase its latest technology.
New innovations on display included a power supply with a built-in multi-channel circuit breaker for cabinet protection of vital electronic components, surge protection units for both three-phase and single-phase protection, as well as a new range of very slim ex-rated signal conditioners, energy meters, and accessories.
Kevin Preston, group manager IMA & IE at Phoenix Contact South Africa, says, “We always find the exhibition valuable to not only connect with our existing customers, but also to meet with prospective new customers. The feedback we received has always been very positive, and this year a lot of interest was shown in our e-mobility charge station and related products.”
Innovative, cost-effective technologies for the mining industry
Preston relates how Phoenix Contact has always been successful in the mining sector, providing several cost-effective solutions which include water management and pump control, vehicle monitoring, power monitoring and telemetry systems.
Examples of applications include: the implementation of a number of solutions for the control of pumps on trailing and settlement dams in the Gold, Platinum and Manganese mines, throughout southern Africa; the supply of automated UPS systems for the distribution of power in the stopes for all the electronic monitoring equipment; and in the open-cast mining arena, it has supplied various telemetry systems for monitoring the energy supply to the drag lines and monitoring the stability of the mined walls.
Smart Mining: how digitalisation is improving productivity and efficiency
“Through the close integration between Information Technology (IT) and the Operational Technology (OT) worlds,” says Preston, “more and more processes are being automated and monitored. This allows for a more streamline approach and accessibility to production information. The digitalisation of the information is revolutionary and gives a real-time window for management to access and improve the operation and running of various plants and machinery.”
Providing products and solutions across many different industries
Phoenix Contact has not only found success in mining but in many other sectors of industry, and one of their recent success stories is their growth from sales out of their ‘valued added solution centre’ where the business tripled over a four-year period. These are additional services that they offer to their customers with various custom-built solutions, which otherwise would require additional labour and costing.
Some of the new products the company has launched onto the market over the past year are:
- The new 3-phase TRIO POWER power supplies with an integrated multi-channel device protection feature.
- A lightning current arrester for DC grids for industrial applications up to 1 000 V DC.
- Multifunctional DC circuit breakers for protecting, monitoring, and switching DC loads.
- Current measuring transducers with web-based management, intuitive configuration and precise measurement.
- DC energy meters with calibration approval, designed for charging infrastructure.
- Industrial Wi-Fi 6 modules, the latest generation of WLAN.
- An Ethernet APL switch for the process industry.
- Managed switches for stringent requirements for use in critical infrastructures.
- Terminal blocks with Push-X technology for effortless and fast wiring.
- ArcZero series DC connectors for safe connection and disconnection under load.
• THERMOMARK E.300 DOUBLE thermal transfer printers for single and double-sided marking.
