Human & Food Waste Disposal Systems

CASE STUDY #1 - Bedpan Sanitiser Control System

In intensive and aged care institutions, the safe emptying and sanitising of bedpans is of major concern to healthcare workers. So a leading Australian company chose PNE to develop control systems for their heavy-duty sanitisers that addressed the failings of many other imported products.

And in our usual way, we enhanced the list of featrures the products owner wanted to see delivered, and showed how we could deliver more funtions for less money, through the innovative use of microprocessor systems and clever software.

With features such as electric door openers that sense whether the door is closed tight enough before starting the steam clean process, using a load software based current load sensing system as opposed to using additional expensive hardware sensors, a safety interlock system that stops or re-opens the door if it detects a jam, and automatic cleaning cycle control that ensures steam is delivered at the right temperature for the right duration to ensure mandatory requirements are met for this hospital grade device, this essential behind-the-scenes service is now faster, more efficient, and safer for operators, helping make our customer’s range an industry leader.

CASE STUDY #2 - Food Waste Dispoal Controller

When an innovative waste handling company recognised that commercial food waste couldn't continue to be dumped in landfill, and that it had commercial value if it could be pulped and resold to biogenerator companies as a source of methane and animal feed, they attempted to build a waste disposal unit using PLCs, or Porgammable Logic Controllers.

We've had many successes in taking devices previously controlled by PLCs, that had limited functionality as a result (due to the innately limited functionality of PLCs) and delivered more fully featured AND lower priced and more reliable microcontroller based solutions. Using the lessons learned in developing the steam sanitiser, we delivered a compact, push button control system that offered greater control over water usage, greater grinding efficiences, and greater levels of user safety, than was ever possible with PLCs.

The result was a product with electric door openers (a concept the customer had never thought possible, or affordable), infalable safety cutouts, including the ability to determine if the unit had been loaded with cutlery and not just food waste (a common occurrence in commercial kitchens as it turned out!) and thus avoid damage to the grinding mechanism, as well as an on-board datalogger that would contact the waste company and request that the tank be emptied a day or two prior to the unit determining the tank would be full, based on the previous weeks history of use.