You can buy a pint of wine in a lidded cup on the ferry to Nantucket. Not a normal start to a work trip, but walking your dogs on the beach each morning isn’t exactly standard operating procedure either. It was a special week on a special assignment. Triple Eight Distillery asked Haskell to help restore automation on a column still that had lost control functionality.

I originally offered to complete the automation engineering work remotely for Triple Eight Distillery’s head distiller, Bryan Jennings, to which he replied, “But then you wouldn’t be able to visit the island.” I am so glad I took him up on the offer, and equally glad my dog sitter wasn’t available. We got to experience the full scope of Nantucket hospitality.

My role as a process and automation engineer put me up against the distillery’s column still, which has been ‘Frankensteined’ over the years and no longer functioned with the original automated controls. Jennings approached me at the American Craft Spirits Association conference in Tucson, Arizona, and asked me to bring it back online. They planned to replace a heat exchanger and a variable-frequency drive (VFD) and to add VFD control to one of the pumps. VFDs allow motors to run at different speeds, rather than only at full speed. This would also be an ideal opportunity for them to get the controls back in shape.

Before I arrived on site, I reviewed the specifications for the existing and replacement pumps and drives. I managed to source the same spec of pump and drive but at a more cost-effective rate. The next step was to coordinate with Bryan, the island’s electrician, to ensure the equipment was properly housed and wired. This included replacing some components in the control panel and rerouting cables. Because delivery to the island can take time, we worked ahead to ensure the necessary parts were on hand before startup.

On the first two days at Triple Eight, I began by ensuring I could connect to the programmable logic controller (PLC) and the human-machine interface (HMI), and by backing up the code. After connecting, I spent some time familiarizing myself with the code layout and the still’s physical construction, including the new valves, pumps and instrumentation that had been added.

The electrician arrived on Day 3 to finalize some of the wiring. As we worked, I added new code to the PLC to control the pump via the new VFD and set the drive parameters. A flow meter had been added upstream of this pump, so I added a safety interlock that would shut the new steam valves if the flow rate dropped below a threshold.

By Tuesday, we were ready to test the changes and bring steam into the system. This was where the real fun began. Not only could we see how the new feed and recirculating pumps perform, but also identify other code that may need adjustment and areas for improvement.

With the steam safety shut-off valves working and able to bring water successfully to temperature, we were confident we could bring water into the system, allowing us to watch all the proportional, integral and derivative (PID) controllers. PID controllers are an important part of the process automation toolkit. They allow valves and motors to respond automatically to a desired process set point (e.g., temperature or speed) by reading the process variable and adjusting the valve position or motor speed accordingly. Adjusting the P, I and D variables can be a tricky and time-consuming process; however, tools like trend screen mapping can help. Nothing beats understanding the process and the equipment in front of you.

The next few days were spent running the still to tweak parameters until each part worked better and to find solutions to improve the pinch points. One example was the location of the new heat exchanger, which was dictated by its size and by how the piping was oriented to fit the old heat exchanger. One suggestion was to reorient and re-pipe the pump’s output so there is a direct line to the heat exchanger inlet, which would greatly improve the pump’s flow rate and control.

This extra time also allowed me to observe how Jennings interacted with the interface, so I could make layout changes to ease his workflow. I also identified and added several alarms and warnings to give him better insight into the operation. Logging the alarm history provides insight into why shutdowns might still occur. Trends that trigger the most alarms will also be made visible and traceable, presenting opportunities to adjust some set points and alarm limits to improve efficiency.

I also created some screen fields to allow Jennings to change settings he previously could not, enabling him to improve the control loops and set points without needing to log into the PLC. Of course, the more time spent in front of the system, the better things work.

By the end of the week, the updates not only addressed immediate challenges but also positioned the system for long-term reliability and incremental improvement. In an environment where uptime, safety and consistency matter, thoughtful automation proved to be as valuable as any physical upgrade. I hope to come back to assist with additional or future modifications.

About the Author: Dr. Alan Green is Haskell’s automation design subject matter expert. He has more than 22 years of experience in process automation and engineering, including work with distilleries in the United States and abroad. He holds a doctorate in electrical and electronic engineering.

This article originally appeared in Artisan Spirit, a magazine for craft distillers and their fans.

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