Flow Control, Flow Control December 2017

removed before final installation and configuration WirelessHART addresses these issues and the network gets stronger as more devices are added because more potential paths for optimization in the self organizing mesh are available Wireless can be more practical Wireless is often the only practical solution in brownfield applications where instruments need to be added to comply with regulations and to improve safety and performance Pump monitoring is a good example Pumps in chemical petrochemical refining and other industrial plants need to be monitored even if they are in remote locations such as a lift station or pipeline When a pump fails it can cause catastrophic failures that lead to expensive repairs fires and plant downtime A pump or seal failure can start a fire or shut down a complete process requiring expensive unplanned emergency maintenance In many facilities automated monitoring is used for only 10 percent of the most critical pumps or not at all That leaves nearly 90 percent of pumps in a typical facility prone to relying on manual rounds unnecessary maintenance or running to failure Many pumps are in hazardous areas remote locations or areas where no spare I O or power is available see Image 1 In these cases using wired instruments for monitoring cannot be cost justified and wireless is the only practical alternative to enable early detection through remote monitoring Typically wireless installations will take one fourth of the time and cost of a wired 4 20 mA or FOUNDATION Fieldbus installation for providing flow pressure level temperature and or vibration measurements Wired instruments require a supporting wired infrastructure which can include a power supply cabling conduit and cable trays to bring the signal to a field junction box or marshalling cabinet along with input devices at the control and monitoring system to accept the instruments 4 20 mA or FOUNDATION Fieldbus signal This makes wired instrument and network installation expensive and time consuming particularly when design and installation labor are also considered Many mature facilities have no spare input points in the existing infrastructure making wireless the only practical alternative Wireless networks eliminate the complexities and costs of wired instrumentation and are just as reliable Unlike 4 20 mA wired systems each WirelessHART network component has built in diagnostics for remote monitoring and early detection of potential issues Wireless technology has changed the landscape of remote pump monitoring At a fraction of the installed cost of wired instruments plants can enable preventive maintenance by augmenting manual rounds with online condition monitoring This not only gives early indication of failure but also avoids unnecessary maintenance The same benefits for pumps can be extended to other critical assets such as heat exchangers and cooling towers WirelessHART performance is comparable to wired systems for most flow monitoring and control applications and it has been in widespread use for more than 10 years More than 30000 networks are deployed globally with more than 40 different types of WirelessHART instruments for measuring flow pressure level temperature and other key process parameters FC Dan Carlson is a solution architect at Emerson Automation Solutions He holds a Bachelor of Arts in physics from Carleton College and an MBA from the University of Minnesota Carlson has been with Emerson for 15 years working on wireless technology and applications Learn more about the FieldComm Group at fieldcommgroup org Free info Enter 210 at fcm hotims com 20 December 2017 Flow Control