That's it! Today (Friday) marks the end of my 3-month industrial training period. Not exactly 3 months or 60 days because I started the internship one week late but it should satisfy all of the requirements. Even if I wanted to extend the period, I can't because I only have one extra week to complete a 50-page (minimum) report and a presentation video before the new semester starts.

Fifty-five days of adventure is over. It was great while it lasted. At some point I felt that I was a permanent employee there. I was quite reluctant to leave the company. I had a mixed feeling when I walked out the door for the last time. One part I'm happy to escape the horrendous morning and evening traffic and the occasional stressful moments while working. The other part of me was grieving for all the memories and achievements I gained there. The thing I like being an intern here is that everyday I learn new things even when I have almost nothing to do. The office has everything you need to learn!

Fifty-five days of training can really make a difference in one's personality and knowledge. Timid and naive, yup, that's me when I first entered this company. Don't even know what an inverter is. But look at me now! I can talk about inverters from the inside-out! Not just one brand but practically any brand you can think of! Interpersonal skills? Heck! I've talked to an Italian businessman before! I'm not trying to impress anyone but I'm appreciating for all the opportunities given to me to refine my characteristics.

Alhamdulillah, God has given me health and convenience to work in great shape. Fifty-five days and no MCs. Quite an achievement not everyone can acquire. On top of that I was NEVER late for work despite the huge distance between my house and the office. Except there was one day when I have to send my dad to office first before coming to work and I was late for fifteen minutes. This is the two criterion employers seek and value the most, discipline and punctuality.

No more fieldwork, just reminiscing my memories back in April and May. The new collie truly fills "the loneliness void in me" after one month of being the only intern there. We talked a lot, exchanged jokes and helped eachother during fieldwork. Eventhough I'm a loner type of person, I do need someone to help me out in whatever I do or even when I'm lonely. But now he has to take my place for the rest of his internship period and I hope all the things I've taught him is enough for him to endure the days to come.

Mr. James gave me one last component to try out, the area sensor. Here's the setup:

The sensor emits an array of invisible lasers and when any of them is blocked, it will send an "ON" signal to the output whether its a relay or an emergency stop button.

Around 4.50pm one of Mr. James relatives who work at an oil and gas company (I think) came to the office to negotiate something with Miss Goh. He talked to me how the REAL working life is like. He said even the best of workers especially newcomers can turn awful because there WILL be a group of senior workers who will persuade the juniors to do bad things like fake MCs, low work quality and things like that. What a great advice! I will definitely take note of that once I graduate later!

Finally, with a feeling of reluctance, I walked out of the office for the last time. My adventure here has ended. Now comes a new challenge, to finish my degree hopefully, with flying colors. But now its a new beginning, now that I'm armed with knowledge and experience. I would like to thank Speed Drives and Automation Sdn. Bhd. particularly Mr. James for giving me the opportunity to learn! And thank you for all the Nasi Lemak Rendang Ayam and McD treats! Thank You so very much!!!

This Blog is officially CLOSED. Thanks for reading!!

The BIG day has come. Outstation day. I was not expecting any outstation work when I first signed up for this job! Last week Mr. James said, "Make sure you understand all this..we'll be going to Johor to install that controller.." My first thoughts were, "Err..Johor? Really? For REAL?" I was very skeptical about Mr. James' statement until today when his words came true..Oh my God, he MEANS it!! We are REALLY going to Johor!!

Anyway, met with two malay technicians who will help us install the controller at the mamak restaurant near the office. Then we embark on the three-hour journey to Batu Pahat. NOT in Muar like what I mentioned yesterday. In fact, its not even a factory, but a high-tech training institute. We took the north-south expressway and exited at Yong Peng Utara.

The journey took me to places that I've never been before. Its like, the other side of Malaysia! All this while I only see the lifestyles of the people in the city but its very relaxing to observe the people in the "kampung" area. They're having a very peaceful and modest life where we, the people of the big city, are always at rage over the traffic, horrendous workloads and the crime rate. Truly a peaceful sight!

Upon arrival, the two technicians took us to a big workshop full of lathe and milling machines grouped into sectors within the workshop. We are replacing a controller module of one of the lathe machines. Originally the controller module is from Fagor but the "cikgu" requested for a different brand from Heidenhein, made in Germany. That's why we were called in, to setup the controller module and match the settings with the old and faulty Fagor controller. This is the module:

The thing with a keypad is connected to the small black box and the output goes to the inverter. It is used to control the speed of the motor in accordance with the controller's settings. At first it was quite difficult familiarizing with the controller setup but slowly we begin to learn the programming methods.

Programming at the controller alone is not enough, because we need to synchronize this machine with the other lathe machines in terms of motor speed so Mr. James suggested that I manipulate the bias frequency and the gain frequency at the inverter to compensate the new controller's settings but it was already lunch time when I start to access the inverter. We had lunch at the institute's cafeteria.

After lunch we resumed on our work. It took us almost two hours to figure out the correct settings. We cannot match the machine exactly with the other machines but the "cikgu" came and he said its good enough. That's it! We are allowed to go home! It was 3.50pm when it was all done. This fieldwork turns out to be a success!! 

I managed to capture some photos of the control box. Here's a typical sight inside a control box:

But this control box does not have any PLCs. If it does, it is usually mounted at the top-left corner of the box.

The best part of this fieldwork is that I managed to capture some photos of myself doing work! With the permission of Mr. James and the technicians of course.

This is my final fieldwork of the internship. What a great way to end an endeavor! A big job done well. An unforgettable experience! Thanks a lot Mr. James!!! And not forgetting Mr. Rizal and his brother, the two technicians who brought us here!! This is probably the most awesome day of my internship!

Its never too late to learn something new. Today I learn two new devices. The FP0 PLC and the DIN rail power supply. First up, the Panasonic FP0 PLC. Around 9.30am Mr. James gave me the PLC, a connector, the serial cable and a power supply and asked me to test the PLC. This is the smallest PLC I've come across so far. Its kinda cute too. Alright the picture:

The small green box is the PLC. Just in case you can't spot it. The PLC is powered by a 24V DC unlike the normal bulky PLCs that consumes the household 230V AC supply. To program it, the user needs the FPWIN GR software. The interface is shown on the laptop. Its a simple PLC meant for basic applications. The software is quite easy to use. Programming is quite easy even for a newbie like me.

Few minutes later two customers came in to purchase the PLC and the serial cable. He also brought with him his laptop to install the programming software and test the PLC. They went back as soon as they were satisfied with it.

Oh, I forgot to mention one event that happened before the PLC customers walked in. A chinese lad came to purchase a black Sanken inverter. He said that he will connect the inverter to a switch to run a motor and a potentiometer to control the speed. He wants us to demonstrate how to do that so we unpacked the inverter and connected it to the control box and the potentiometer. Then I taught him how to program the inverter. Feels good to be a teacher! 

Ok, the next new device. The DIN Rail power supply. This power supply outputs 24VDC and needs 230VAC to operate. Just like the normal switching power supply I have posted few days back. This PSU is specifically designed to be mounted inside a control box on the DIN Rail. The DIN Rail is a long metal plate that is used to mount relays, PLCs and power supplies. Imagine a cloth hanger. The DIN Rail is the hanger and all the relays, PLCs are the clothes. 

Initially the output was 24-point-something volts but I adjusted it to be precisely 24.00Volts by adjusting the potentiometer at the PSU. Here's the picture of that PSU:

That's it for today's activity. No fieldwork so we stayed at the office after lunch. Tomorrow is going to be either a great success or a complete failure. I don't know what to expect tomorrow because I'm not familiar with the device that we will install there. Mr. James asked us to be at the rendezvous point near the office and we will convoy with another group of people to the factory. Bandar Maharani, here I come!!

Another day, another adventure unfolds. Traffic today seem a little heavier than yesterday. I thought yesterday was the worst that it could possibly get! But in a few days time, it will all be over for me. Patience, Hairol.

As told by Mr. James we went to the label factory in Cheras. Just me and my collie and I'm driving. Made an arrangement with a friend of Mr. James who will bring us inside the factory and monitor our work. The appointment was at 11am. We embark on our journey a bit early at 10.15am. I was afraid that I might took the wrong turn and arrived late at the factory. 

My hunch was right! I took the wrong turn twice! Lucky me, U-turns are everywhere for me to get back on track. Finally with the help of Mr. James I managed to arrive at the factory on time. In fact, we arrive exactly on time! As I got out of the car I looked at the time and it was 11.00am!

Mr. Alan, the person that will escort us into the factory has not arrived yet so we wait for him at the security post. Finally I managed to snap a picture of myself in front of the factory!! With the permission of the security guard of course. Fifty-two days and only ONE picture of myself on fieldwork! But one is better than nothing, right? Still, I have to censor the name of the factory because I'm not allowed to do so by Mr. James.

Few minutes later, Mr. Alan arrived and we followed him into the factory. This was supposed to be a short fieldwork but turns out otherwise. After re-installing the new inverter the motor of interest is ready to run. As soon as it ran, problems starts to surface. Before I describe the problem, allow me to reveal what devices are connected to the inverter. The switch terminal is connected to an external relay that is used to isolate the incoming signal, the potentiometer terminal is connected to a proximity sensor that will determine how much the motor should turn depending on the distance of an object (a label) within its sensing range.

The problem is that the sensitivity of the sensor is not acute enough. There are some other problems but I refuse to write here because its too complicated and I might bore you to death sleep. But finally after numerous trial-and-error on the speed and gain frequency at the inverter, I managed to solve the problem. Not entirely but up to the extent of obtaining the machine operator's satisfaction. It was 2.30pm when it was all done.

On the way back we took a detour to McD Seri Kembangan for lunch. Arrived at the office at 4pm. Quite an exhaustive day but at least I have a photo to commemorate it! When we arrived at the office Mr. James has gone out. At 5pm Miss Goh allowed us to go home and rest. Oh, one more thing. The trip to Johor was postponed to Thursday and its not in Johor Bahru but in Muar. 

The final week is finally here! After enduring ten weeks of challenges and unforgiving traffic, its coming to an end very soon. As predicted morning traffic has increased tremendously and arrival time is delayed by almost twenty minutes! Had breakfast at the same restaurant since Day 1. They know too well what I would order for drinks. My favorite teh tarik is served as soon as I entered the restaurant. I don't even have to tell them. They will know. Nice~

Unfortunately this will be my last week having breakfast there. Its a great place to lepak and get some rest after one hour of driving. The teh tarik is sure a great beverage to refresh my mind!

No fieldwork today. But there's definitely one tomorrow and the day after. In the morning we did some troubleshooting on the PLC software. The laptop is unable to detect the PLC using the Serial to USB cable. But after a while my collie managed to fix it and now we can download and upload the ladder diagram to or from the PLC using the USB port.

Tomorrow we will be tasked to re-install an inverter in a label manufacturing factory in Cheras. The same factory  I went into couple of weeks ago. The motor that is being controlled by the new inverter that I have installed has an overcurrent fault so the factory technician removed the new inverter and replaced it with the older inverter but now they want us to re-install the new inverter and set some overcurrent limit in the inverter.

Mr. James said that we will be going for a fieldwork in Johor Bahru on Wednesday! The factory there is replacing a controller unit that is connected to a Toshiba inverter. Our task is to install that controller unit and wire it to the inverter. The factory staff has provided us with all the technical documents of the controller so in the mean time we were asked to read through the manuals and technical drawings. This controller is not a PLC and I'm not familiar with this product so I really have to read through the manuals thoroughly before the trip. Its going to be a one-day trip. I hope everything will go smoothly that day.

Mr. James went out at about 4pm without us so we have almost nothing to do. Went back at 5.25pm today. While I was waiting for the traffic light to turn green at an intersection, something awkward happened. A teenage girl about 15-18 years of age (I think) inside an SUV beside my car smiled and waved at me! She's definitely looking at me because I saw her eyes looking directly at me! I was like, "what the heck? Do I know you??" I kinda ignored her. I should have at least smiled back!! D'oh!!

Great! Now I have a secret admirer! *blushing* The driver of the SUV sped off as soon as the traffic light was green and I never saw her again. I'm sure that girl was not of someone I know because I'm sure none of my relatives, friends or even my neighbour drives a Rexton. Maybe she was just goofing around and thinks that I'm 17 years old like what other people say about me..

Fifty working days! The transformation is almost complete! Transformation to a better person that is. Before the internship I used to be very timid, naive and do not know how to approach new people especially people that are older and far more experienced than me. But that's history! Every factory I went into I learnt new things, communication skills in particular. From the security guard to an Italian businessman. Most of them are very friendly and never under-estimated me especially Mr. Jamal from the Sungai Besi glass factory and the Italian guy whom I mingled with as if he was a local citizen! My principle now is simple, "The heck with it! Go and tell him what you want lah!" Or in a well mannered terms, "forget all of your flaws, just approach and talk to that person directly but make sure you keep a friendly tone". 

We were supposed to go to the label factory in Cheras today but it was postponed to Tuesday. I'm not sure what is the cause. Again, no fieldwork today. Mr James went out without us around 12pm and we got almost nothing to do. But later Miss Goh gave us a few assignments to fill up the time. We helped her to search about the specifications of a few products and help select a compatible model for a proximity sensor that came from a different brand.

Went out for lunch and Friday prayer at 12.40pm and resumed our assignments after that. The most stressful part of the assignment is when the product that we need to search is no longer in production so all the reference materials and technical details is buried with it. And some of the websites are in foreign language but thanks to Google Translate, I was able to get some useful information from the website. Despite the drawbacks, we finally managed to finish all of the assignments!

Around 4.15pm I was asked to deliver an item to a courier branch near Tesco Puchong. It was an urgent delivery so I quickly opened Google Maps and find out the best route to get there. Miss Goh told me that I can go home after the delivery is done. Drove straight to the designated location but a few turns before reaching there, I forgot which junction to turn to because there were so many of them! But lucky me, my instinct was correct all the way and found the road on the address. Phew~

Managed to beat the rush hour traffic and arrived home at 5pm! The earliest arrival time so far!

Time to get emotional..Now that I've worked here for a full ten weeks I can feel that there's some sort of bonding between me and the company. Like a family. Sometimes I felt like I'm a permanent worker here! I can't believe that I will "resign" at the end of the week! The journey so far is indeed meaningful and when I read back all the post in April and May, my tears start falling off! Sweet memories! But out of my control, this endeavor is coming to an end.

The last of everything. Its all going to happen this week. Last factory visit, last breakfast at the restaurant, last ride in Mr. James's car, last conversation with the factory technician, last moments "playing" with the inverter, last drive home from Bandar Bukit Puchong..Do I sound like I'm going to meet God? Lets NOT picture it that way..Seriously! Just expressing my emotions..

Oh, no..the kids are back! Traffic will be "back to normal"!! The merciless heavy volume of traffic is back! I'll have to speed up and tailgate everyone again!! Noooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!

Thursday's post..getting incredibly lazy to update this blog daily..As planned, went to renew my driving licence and had told Mr. James the day before. Simple task but I had planned my journey in detail. Surveyed the nearest JPJ branch to the office on JPJ website and Google Maps and found one at Section 7, Bangi just a few kilometers away from UNITEN. Gathered as much "intel" as I could like asking what documents do I need, how the process is going to be like and even called up JPJ just to be sure. Also planned what route, which highway to take to get there and even estimated how the traffic is going to be like. Man, I've been watching too many military movies! Everything is very detailed and tactical including back-up plans!

All in all, the task went very smooth. Better than expected. Mission accomplished! Bye bye, Big Red P Sticker! I'm going to miss you! You've witnessed so many of my driving achievements and blunders including my first accident! (I was not at fault, mind you!) Had breakfast at Section 8 at the same restaurant where I used to hang out with my friends just to bring back memories. Finally arrived at the office at 11am.

As soon as I entered the office, I saw my collie wiring up a small and brand-new AC motor. Its kinda cute to me..remember the AC motor I posted on Day 40 of my blog? I imagined that the motor has gave birth to this cute little motor..haha Anyway, here's the picture of the newborn motor:  

It is quite small. The one used to grind ice to make ais kacang or ABC. Our task is to wire up the motor to an inverter and demonstrate the features to a customer. I connected the motor to the control box and tested the feature. Few minutes later the customer arrived and I demonstrated what the switches do and they seem to be quite amused with it.

No fieldwork today. In the afternoon a guy came to discuss some problems with the PLC and the program software. Went back at 6pm today but traffic wasn't as bad as I had expected!

Yes, that's right. Just like what Miss Goh said, "Wah, now you're the Sifu aa!". Not to brag but it feels great to be a "senior" member in the company. More responsibility means more challenge! Sometimes its fun especially the teaching part! I love to teach. And when I teach, I teach enthusiastically! Some of my friends back at the university love the way I taught them and often seek for my help in their studies! Its been a pleasure doing that. I secretly feel proud of myself every time they say, "Kucing..err..Sifu, boleh tolong ajar camne nak buat soalan ni tak?"

On Tuesday I taught my collie about how to program the green Sanken Inverter, one of my favorite inverter. I told him that the first thing to look for in the manual is the circuit diagram and the terminal names. Then I showed him the control box and explained what it is used for. After connecting the potentiometer and the control box, I taught him about the programming. Gosh, its MUCH simpler than that pathetic Telemechanique inverter! Just ONE program code and the potentiometer is alive!

After lunch we were given a DC drive by Mr. James and asked to try it out and check the output voltage. But when we power up the drive, the output voltage is only half the maximum voltage when the potentiometer is at maximum. This implies that when a motor is connected to it, when the potentiometer is at maximum, the speed is only half that of the rated speed of the motor. Tried adjusting all the knobs at the drive but to no avail.

No fieldwork on Tuesday so we spent the rest of the day browsing the catalogs and manuals inside the laptop.

Today is mostly about PLC. We encountered problems installing the software needed to program the Siemens PLC. At the brink of solving all of the problems but we looked at the time, it was almost 5pm and Miss Goh asked us to go home at 5pm so we tidy up the table and went back.

Tomorrow I have no choice but to take half-day leave. I need to renew my P driving licence and its been due since yesterday. There goes my clean attendance record! D'oh!!!

As stated yesterday, two big events occurred today. New collie's first day and the visiting supervisor. Was quite nervous for the lecturer visit..I don't know what to expect! She promised to meet me and Mr. James at the office around 10am. Few minutes past ten, she was at the door. Mr. James was busy so I enlightened her with what I do in this internship and introduced to her all the devices and controllers that I have learnt.

As soon as Mr. James was available, we (me and the lecturer) went into Mr. James office to discuss about my performance so far. Thankfully I only received positive remarks from Mr. James and the lecturer was quite intrigued with what the company sells especially PLCs since there's no dedicated subject about PLC. Moreover there is a very good career prospect in PLC and automation engineering nowadays. All in all, the visit went well.

Shortly after lunch and Zohor prayer I was asked to go to the cereal factory in Balakong to install a potentiometer and configure the Telemechanique inverter to use the potentiometer to control the speed of the motor. Mr. James won't be coming along. Its just me and the new guy.

I forgot to mention one activity in the morning..In the morning me and my collie was given another variant of the Telemechanique inverter to try to configure it to use the external potentiometer as the speed controller similar to the Balakong factory problem. But still, we can't configure it to enable the external potentiometer! This just adds up my hatred towards this brand of inverter! It was until Mr. James called one of his friends who's an expert in this brand. Finally! The potentiometer works! Want to know why I was unable to solve that problem? Its because some of the program codes are NOT in the manual!!!

But at least now me and my collie are well prepared for the Balakong factory problem. I now know what program codes to change and so forth. So we went to the factory and the appointment with the factory technician was at 2.30pm. But I took a wrong turn and ended up in Cyberjaya near MMU!! I need a GPS NOW!!! Lucky my collie is from MMU and he guided me to the road to The Mines and from there I know which junction to take. We end up arriving at the factory 30 minutes late!

I managed to get the correct program setting about half an hour later. And I did it without the help of the manual! Its useless anyway! I just recalled the needed program codes, followed my hunch and suddenly the potentiometer comes alive! Drilled a hole to fit the potentiometer and were done! Demonstrated the speed control method to the machine operator and asked him whether the speed is sufficient. He said OK and the factory technician is happy. It was 4pm when all of it is done and we were given the green light by Mr. James to go home!

The factory technician seem to be quite impressed judging by his facial expression. Two young dudes casually walks into the factory with a set of tools, fixing a complicated device with very little problems. He smiled every time we looked at him! What a great day! Its like a buffer to Friday's blunder!

I'll be home alone for today and tomorrow because my parents and some of my neighbors went to Singapore for a holiday! Too bad I can't follow them! Could really use a vacation right now.. 

Just finished writing four weeks of entries in my logbook! Finally its done! I'm ready for the lecturer visit tomorrow! Oh, I forgot. My lecturer called me last Friday informing that she will come to visit me and interview Mr. James tomorrow morning. She sounded very friendly on the phone. Lets just hope that I will get good remarks from Mr. James despite the fact that I've made a BIG mistake last friday..I still have that guilt! The story about that on the next paragraph.

Ok here goes..Last Friday I was given a PLC device by Mr. James and he asked me to upload the program. But I stroke the wrong icon and the whole program inside the PLC was wiped clean!! The program inside is very very important and impossible to re-design in one day! I should have asked Mr. James before I pressed any icons on the screen!! The guilt at that moment was unbearable!!

Was speechless at that moment too. My voice tone suddenly change. My worst nightmare has come true! I thought this kind of mistake would never surface ever in my life! I guess that I was not careful enough. But my supervisor doesn't seem to be as devastated as I am..

Even professionals make mistakes. Steve Irwin DIED while he was off-guard just a few seconds and got stung by a sting ray! At least the mistake I did did not caused any harm to myself. A ladder diagram can be re-build, but one's life once lost, lost forever.

Even so, I still have the guilt knowing that Mr. James would have to go through a lot of hassle dealing with the customer because of my mistake. I am terribly sorry, Mr. James!! If only I could turn back time!! If only it was just a horrible dream!!

Mr. James went out shortly after I came back from Friday prayer. Later in the evening Miss Goh eased my guilt by saying, "Its OK, he can handle it..Learn from your mistakes..". Yes that is absolutely true. I MUST learn from my mistakes. Mistakes are like pain. It alerts you whenever something is not right and demands you to do something about it to ease the pain. 

Two big things going to happen tomorrow. New collie and a lecturer visit! I have anticipated for both events for so long! Remember last time I said that I can only "wait for either" events to occur? I didn't expect them to occur simultaneously! Oh, the irony..

This week turns out to be an out-going week! There's at least one fieldwork everyday! And today there's two! No, I'm not complaining. Its great to explore new factories, new machines, meet new people and to learn new things. Not to mention the feeling of contentment I get after a job well done. And I get rewarded for it! Daily expenditure has gone down by more than 50 percent thanks to Mr. James.

Like I said in the first paragraph, we went to two factories today. The first one in a cereal manufacturing factory in Balakong. We were called in a few days ago to program a Telemechanique inverter so that the keypad on the inverter can be used to run and control the speed of a motor. I already browsed through the manual yesterday but when I get there, it didn't go very well. Eventhough I already knew what program codes to change, the program code of interest doesn't appear at the inverter display!!

Very tedious and complicated programming method. I have to change this program code in order to access that program code. And the program codes are not grouped in numbers like the eastern-made inverters! Instead it uses the short-form of a command/program! Imagine trying to display "CONT" (Control) using seven-segment displays. Its confusing! I was silently cursing the inverter while programming it.

Mr. James called one of his friends who is an expert in Telemechanique inverters and finally managed to get the correct setting. Even so, the built-in potentiometer CANNOT be used to control the motor speed. The operator needs to change two program codes to change the speed. Too bad for him.. Maybe this brand is pathetic in terms of programming but superior when it comes to performance and efficiency. 

This was supposed to be a short fieldwork but turns out to be longer than expected. 

Next we went to the label manufacturing factory in Cheras not far from the cereal factory. I've been into this factory before but left an unfinished business unsolved problem. Refer to Day 32 for more information. We were guided by the officer-in-charge to the faulty inverter. First, I unplugged all the terminal connections of the old inverter and transferred them to a new inverter. It did not work accordingly at first, but it turns out that I have misread the built in relay terminal of the old italian inverter. The correct terminal is the "normally closed" contact not the "normally open" terminal. Its not a common practice to use the "normally closed" contact so I was quite reluctant to change it.

But to my surprise, the solution worked! The motor runs and stops accordingly. Promptly removed the old inverter from its mount and drilled three new holes for the new inverter. Its a steel plate I have to drill through but the drilling process was surprisingly easy and less tiring than the one I did on Tuesday! Persistently mounted and wired the inverter and about half an hour later, its DONE including the external relay wiring. Powered up the whole machine, altered some program codes and the inverter is ready to make some labels!

Its one of those user-friendly Sanken inverters. Programming was much much easier than that German made inverter. Hey, this post turns out to be like my "East vs. West" post few weeks ago! But seriously, the programming guy in Telemechanique HAS to restructure his program codes promptly! It is such a sophisticated inverter but with ONE single drawback. The program codes. Period.

Packed all the equipments and we went for lunch. Mr. James paid for my mee goreng at the mamak restaurant nearby! Thanks Mr. James!!

Mr. James dropped me at the office and he went out without me. It was around 3pm when I arrived at the office. 

Constantly on the move today. Went to four factories today. Out of the four, I have been into two of them. Allow me to discuss them in sequence. Sorry no pictures for this post due to that nasty "no camera" sign. D'oh!

We went out at 11am and went to the outskirts of Puchong to a colour pellet manufacturing factory. I've been into this factory more than a month ago. Our (my) job is to install a 7.5hp inverter to run a motor. Not a typical inverter though, its slightly bigger and thicker than a shoe box and weighs about 7kg! Again my arm strength is put to the test. But fortunately for me, no drilling is needed because the holes are already there so I just have to mount it.

Despite its size, only the basic functions of the inverter is used. Only three control terminals and an external potentiometer. Anyway, after I connected the motor, power supply and the control terminals, the inverter is ready to run. Not done yet, I still have to program the inverter. The inverter is one of my favorite Japanese brand  so the programming is like a walk in the park. Moreover, the inverter has a numeric keypad which makes programming even faster and easier. I think I just found my favorite inverter!

After accessing a few program codes, the inverter is ready to make some moolah! For the factory, that is. Activated the inverter and the motor is running accordingly. The factory technician is satisfied so we move on to the next factory.

Our next destination is a box printing factory in Kota Kemuning. We were directed to the faulty machine by the officer-in-charge. Opened the control panel and in it I saw a lot of magnetic contactors and a few PLCs. Refer to Day 40 of the blog for a picture of a magnetic contactor. Apparently one of the contactors is faulty. The contactor failed to activate when the "on" signal is given by the PLC. This is not an ordinary magnetic contactor according to Mr. James. It has a built-in timer that delays the on or off states. Nothing much can be done so I jot down the model number of the contactor and we went to the next factory.

Next we went to a rubber factory in Shah Alam. The same rubber factory I went into last week and on the first day of my internship. We were called in to inspect a heavy DC motor and its driver. The problem is that the speed of the motor is unstable and fluctuates heavily. The motor is connected to a DC drive circuitry and an rpm meter is connected at the drive to display the rpm value in proportionate with the output voltage of the motor. Mr. James said that the problem lies within the circuitry of the DC drive because the output voltage is unstable eventhough the potentiometer is static. The only solution is to replace the drive but we will do that some other day.

Lastly, we went to a bodycare manufacturing plant to deliver some items. Its the same bodycare plant I went to last week. No technical work so we went back shortly after. Finally arrive back to the office at 5pm. 

There you go, FOUR visits in one day! Quite an exhaustive day for me. I have no idea how I managed to survive the trip back. It was drizzling, traffic was horrendous! One of the traffic light near my house malfunctioned and the traffic goes haywire! Took me more than 75 minutes to arrive home! 

This week and the next is special. Want to know why?? Its the school holidays! No I'm not saying that I'll be joining the school-goers, school holiday means LESS TRAFFIC!!! Even the DJ on the radio agrees with this! From my observation, morning traffic has reduced by more than 60 percent! Normally I arrive at Puchong around 8-8.15am but today I arrived at 7.45am! Took the left and middle lane all the way and did not tailgated any cars. Total contrary on what I used to do on normal working days! 

Went to two factories today. The title today is related to the second factory visit. Around 10.30am me and Mr. James went deep into the outskirts of Meru, Klang. There's this very long stretch of road where both sides of it is still thick jungle! But occasionally I saw newly developed housing areas but who wants to buy a house in the middle of nowhere! Quite a scary road to travel through during the night. I don't think I saw any light poles there..look for Jalan Batu Arang on Google Maps.

At the end of that stretch of road we arrive at an industrial area and eventually arrived at the factory. Its a polyglass manufacturing plant. I don't know what polyglass is but I saw many glass pellets near one of the machines. So the problem is one of the servo drive is faulty. They want us to inspect the faulty drive and look for alternatives. Servo drive is almost similar to an inverter but I'm not sure what's the main difference between the two of them.

I did nothing much except writing down the drive and PLC models. Mr. James was doing all the talking and negotiating. We were there for about one hour. Next we went for lunch at McDonalds!! Its beside Mint Hotel along the road I used to travel from home to UNITEN. Thanks Mr. James!!

The second fieldwork is regarding the Hitachi inverter I discussed yesterday. We went to the automotive parts manufacturing factory in Serdang to install that cute light-blue baby inverter. Quite a famous manufacturer but too bad I am not allowed to disclose the name here. Walked straight to the machine of interest and met with the officer-in-charge of that machine to see how the inverter is used before replacing it. I'm not sure what is the problem with the old inverter but only the basic functions is used. The inverter and some other things is mounted inside a steel control box. I wrote down all the inverter parameter settings and terminal connections and unscrewed the inverter.

The new inverter is of the same brand but different model! The dimensions are different. The new inverter is slightly longer and to my dismay, NONE of the screw holes (used to mount the inverter) matches with the new unit so I have to drill four new holes! Recall that the surface that I have to drill through is pure steel! This is where my arm strength is put to the test. Took me a few minutes to drill one hole and it felt like I just did 50 push-ups! But I still have three more holes to go! Oh my, I have got to exercise my arms after this!

Did a mistake after drilling the four holes so I have to drill another four holes! Occasionally Mr. James came to my aid by pushing the drill to increase the penetration rate. Finally the drilling is DONE! I can barely lift my arms but I tried to ignore the feeling and proceeded to mount the inverter into place. That's a wake up call for me. I MUST exercise my arms and upgrade my stamina after this! Took me 42 days of internship to realize that!!

The drilling part took most of our time there. The programming was a breeze. Managed to get the correct setting on the first try. The officer-in-charge and the factory supervisor is satisfied with my work so we went back to the office. Was about 5pm when it was done. Another job well done. The feeling of contentment is indescribable!

Week number NINE! Here I come! Waking up today seem too easy. Maybe because I purposely slept early yesterday, a few minutes before 11pm. Traffic was fantastic! I was already halfway when the time is 7.35am so I decided to re-fuel and had breakfast at Petronas USJ20. That Petronas station is pretty convenient for me. Everything is there. Fuel, toilet, convenience store, ATM, KFC and even a drive-through Touch-and-Go kiosk!

I was expecting a new collie today but to my dismay, I was wrong. He was supposed to check-in NEXT Monday! On the bright side, the whole workstation is still MINE! Anyway, in the morning I was asked to test the external keypad of a Hitachi inverter. The setup is shown below.

The external keypad is connected via ethernet port and cable. The reason why the external keypad is used is to make the keypad easily accessible by the customer since the inverter will be installed in an enclosed control box and frequent modification of inverter parameters is required.

Around 10am, me and my boss went out to Serdang to service a faulty machine. We arrive at a three-story office building near South City Plaza. The office is doing CD packaging. I'm not sure what else that company is doing. Anyway, we went to the faulty machine at the back of the office to troubleshoot the machine. The machine looks something like this:

Sorry for the fancy drawing skills. Was using Power Point to make this picture and this is the best that I could come up with. But fret not, its very close to the real thing. Only the colour is completely different. The name of this machine is "Infrared *something* Heater". It is used to shrink plastic protecting a CD box. When the plastic is heated up it will shrink down to the size of the CD box.

The problem is that one of the temperature controllers is faulty. The red LED was supposed to turn off after the thermocouple connected to it expands up to the preset temperature (the preset value was 200 degree Celcius). But the LED turns off immediately after we power up the controllers!

I opened the control circuitry enclosure and Mr. James start to take some measurements while the machine is running. He says that one of the contactors did not receive any voltage supply when it is supposed to. He figured this might be the problem but he needs to know where the problem originates. Took about 15 minutes before a miracle happened!

Mr. James asked me to trace the thermocouple cable from the control circuitry. But it was impossible to do that because all the wires leads to the interior of the machine! I touched lightly on the wires and tried to trace the wire inside the machine but my efforts were futile. Was at the brink of giving up but Mr. James stopped me and asked to power up the machine and test the controllers. To our amazement, the faulty controller WORKED!! Oh my God, a miracle has happened!! It turned on continuously when the controllers were activated and shuts down after the thermocouple has expanded sufficiently like it was supposed to! Turns out the problem was the wiring. I accidentally fixed it when I was tracing the thermocouple wires. Came out of the office with a smile on our faces! What a miracle!

I still get that "Wah, you look so young!" remarks from people I meet. After fixing the machine an Indian lady worker asked me, "How old are you?". "Twenty-two", I replied. Then she said, "Awak sangat kurus..saya ingat awak umur tujuh belas..". I giggled. Wow, 17! Maybe because I've shaved my "not so visible" mustache and beard. Otherwise she might have replied "lapan belas" like the others do. Hehe. But I'll take that as a compliment since looking young is THE trend nowadays.

At the end of the fieldwork Mr. James took me to Pappa Rich restaurant nearby. The name of the restaurant is well deserved since the price on the menu is not for those with shallow pockets. Char Kuey Tiaw was priced at RM8.90! Since it was lunchtime and I was very hungry, I ordered Nasi Lemak Rendang Ayam which cost RM8.90. The meal was fantastic! Very nice sambal and rendang, crispy anchovies just the way I like it and the chicken is cooked to perfection! What a great lunch! Worth every penny! Looking forward to re-visit that restaurant soon to test out other dishes. The curry mee looks scrumptious! Oh my, I'm hungry just by writing this! Anyway, Thanks a lot Mr. James!!!

We were supposed to install the Hitachi inverter pictured above after lunch but that did not happen because the factory is busy so we will visit that factory some other day. Went back and I continued "playing" with that inverter by connecting the potentiometer and a relay.

Been there, done that. Yup, that's just perfect to summarize my experiences so far. Been into many factories in Puchong, Shah Alam, Sungai Buloh and many more. In fact, there's too many of them, I need to re-read this blog from Day 1 to list down all of them! Most of the time its about inverter installation but occasionally its about installing controller modules. Great experience and a remarkable achievement of myself now that I have hit the three-quarter mark of my internship.

In the morning a guy from Italy came in..oh wait, I don't think I can disclose any further but what I say is that it was a great experience being able to mingle and laugh together with a foreigner! Now he knows how friendly and courteous we Malaysians are! Too bad the cab service is awful according to him. Otherwise it would have been a perfect day!

After Friday prayer Mr. James went out without me so I don't have any technical work to do. But not for long. Ten or fifteen minutes later Miss Goh asked me to test an inverter. A replacement inverter actually. The older inverter has got an error and unable to operate. I checked the error code and it turns out to be an over-voltage issue. Miss Goh asked me to check the replacement inverter whether it has the same problem. The setup is shown below:

I connected it to a motor to make sure that error doesn't pop out. The motor is delta connected since the power supply of the inverter is 230VAC. Here's the motor just to add some colour to this post:

Actually I used the magnetic contactor as a connector from the motor wires to the inverter because the motor port is too small for the motor cable to fit in. I connected the motor wires to a smaller wire via the magnetic contactor. Then I activated the inverter and let the motor run at a very high speed for a short while to make sure the over-voltage issue does not exist on this unit. This unit is actually a brand-new unit so I really have to be careful not to spoil it.

Actually I missed an important event in the morning. A formal looking guy came into the office. Its the new guy! Another intern! He came in for the interview. Yay now I won't be alone anymore! He will start on Monday and according to Miss Goh, we'll be going for a fieldwork on Monday to install a Hitachi inverter in Serdang. At least now I won't be sweating too much..haha

Just for fun, below is a picture of a thermocouple. It is connected to a temperature controller and the thermocouple will expand when it receives heat and this expansion is translated into signals that is sent to the temperature controller and it will display the exact temperature.

A lot of electronic products are sold here. I am sure they are going to be useful for my Project 1 and 2 subjects later. Simple, practical devices used in factories to automate machines and eliminate human dependency thus reducing cost and maximizing quality. PLCs, power supplies, motor drives, controllers and even multimeters are sold here. Anything industrial, Speed Drives and Automation Sdn. Bhd. has it all.

Getting lazy to update this blog daily..but its not compulsory anyway so no harm done. Ok lets start off with activities I did yesterday morning. Me and Mr. James went to deliver some items to two big factories in Petaling Jaya. Both factories are actually the main manufacturing plants of a famous food and body care products in the market! But we did not went into the manufacturing plant. Just at the technician's room to deliver the items. Security is tight! The security guard at the first factory is not friendly at all! He even scolded me for not wearing safety shoes! But he's just doing his job. No hard feelings.

Went back to the office after lunch and soon after I was given an inverter and asked to connect its transistor output terminal to a relay. Then he asked me to connect another relay that is used to run the inverter by connecting it to the inverter switch. The setup is shown below.

This is actually to simulate the problem we encountered in the Cheras labeling factory I went into last week. The PSU is to simulate the state of a PLC signal (on or off). Not much problem encountered and I managed to connect all the relays and the PSU and get it to work just like how Mr. James wants.

Enough for yesterday. In the morning today Mr. James went out so I got almost nothing to do in the office. Then at around 11.30am Mr. James asked me to go to a rubber factory to assist one of his technician to solve a DC drive related problem in the factory. Its the same rubber factory I went into on Day 1 of my blog. 

The DC drive is actually similar to an inverter but it outputs DC voltage to run a motor. The problem is the motor is not running when it is powered up. This is due to a fault on the rotary encoder connected to the drive. The technician opened the encoder cable casing and found that one of the wire in it has been disconnected! So I soldered the wire and then the factory technician took over and plugged in the cable casing into the encoder. The machine is powered up and the motor is running! For a minute there I thought that the problem was solved and I could go back early but to my dismay, when the factory technician turned on a switch, the motor at the end of it did not run!

Mr. James technician tried his best to solve this problem but was unable to do so because the instruction manual for the DC drive is not available. He will come revisit this problem tomorrow morning with me. Went back at 5.30pm from Shah Alam and traffic was already abnormal. Quite a stressful day today. I was standing for hours observing the technician! 

This post was supposed to be published yesterday! But I was quite exhausted yesterday and slept early. Anyway, yesterday's traffic was abnormal! Took me more than 75 minutes to get to the office! No accidents, no stalled vehicles, just heavy traffic volume.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened in the morning, but I went to two big factories after lunch. First Mr. James took me to a food manufacturing factory in Pulau Indah, Klang. We went for a short detour to rendezvous (run-de-vou) with a technician at the nearby petrol station. Arrived at the factory and met with the factory's electrician and he brought us to the nugget manufacturing department. But before we were allowed in, we have to put on the hair-cover, face mask, a jacket and a pair of boots. Its part of the visitor's procedure to enter the manufacturing plant. 

As soon as we entered the plant, the smell of tempura sweeps through my nose buds and immediately I'm craving for nuggets! Turns out the nuggets made here are one of the famous brand available in all hypermarkets! Anyway, we were called in to download and save the PLC program from all of the machines. No pictures taken so I'll try to describe as best as I can. The machine is actually a very long conveyor with motor and mechanical devices along the way. Each group of mechanical devices and motors are controlled by a PLC. Our job was to download all the program from all of the PLCs. Mr. James technician was doing all the work so I just observed what he did. He encountered some compatibility problem so I wrote down the PLC model and will return some other day.

At the end of the conveyor there's a place where pre-cooked nuggets are rolled in and ready for packing. Here the smell of tempura is even more intense! If only I can just reach one, just one of the nuggets and devour it slowly to savour the taste...*drooling* but I can't because there's a guy there making sure the quantity is correct.   

Next we went deep into the palm-oil plantations of Teluk Panglima Garang to a furniture factory to propose a solution to the factory's dilemma regarding an inverter. The problem is that the display device of an inverter spoils prematurely due to frequent pressing on the keypad. So Mr. James proposed to them to use external switches and potentiometer to minimize dependency on the inverter keypad. They're speaking in chinese. I can't make out what they are saying.

Being inside that factory is quite suffocating. The smell of thinner, spirit, varnish and timber are everywhere and highly concentrated. I don't think my lungs can survive very long if I work there. Lucky we were there just for a short while.

Two contradictory workplaces. One energizes your appetite the other destroys it. One has a strict cleanliness protocols the other has none. One has air-cond the other just free open air. Either way, they share one common goal, to manufacture as much as possible daily and meet customer demands.