Midwest International Standard Products, Inc.

Human Machine Interface
Eye Opener Automated Hatch System
Ordering & Shipping
Request a Quote

“The PAL™ and how it works”

The Midwest PAL™ is a system that was created to take the place of an operator or truck driver having to manually steer a loading spout into a hatch. The Midwest PAL™ uses a series of carefully located sensors to make up the brains of the system. The sensors are mounted on a rolled stainless steel tube around the cast aluminum lift ring providing excellent sensitivity. All wiring from the sensors is passed through the internal portion of this ring in a tight clean package eliminating disorganized cables and loose wiring from the critical sensing area. The sensing system is based on a small simple ladder logic program within the PLC that tells the actuators of the Paragon™ Series Flattop™ spout positioner which direction to move when certain sensors are triggered. These sensors provide a reliable signal when sensing through dust and do not need high intensity lighting in order to work. The PAL™ eliminates the need for expensive and complicated alternative sytems which have proven to be unreliable in the field. The Midwest PAL™ can be retrofitted to any Midwest Flattop™ (4) Way Spout Positioner in the field today. The sensing system and programming can be installed and commissioned by Midwest personnel to have your terminal up and running for the 21st century.

All Purchased PAL™ systems are subject to vigorous testing before shipment. These factory run off tests are customized to simulate the terminal in which they will be installed. Testing of the equipment decreases labor intensive installation and commissioning and minimizes potential problems and hazards. All testing is digitally recorded, documented and electronically sent to the client for approval before shipment from the factory.

“A Lesson in Procedure”

As the driver enters the scale, Midwest position sensors wake up the system The driver proceeds and observes the lighted video screen and stops the truck when the open hatch is within the 24” window on the screen.

At system start up the Flattop™ Spout Positioner is centered and the Paragon™ Series Loading Spout is fully retracted. The driver then enters the sales information into the HMI which tell the PAL™ to start searching for the hatch. Searching is only a matter of seconds. The spout then lowers down until the discharge taper is resting on the truck hatch. The system in then ready to load.

PAL begins to load regularly until jog mode automatically jogs the flow control valve open-closed repeatedly until the final scale weight as ordered has been reached. When loading is complete the spout raises 1 inch and pneumatic vibrators and sparging system remove 90 to 95 percent of dust accumulated inside the loading spout.