Alan Baird, PlantWeb marketing manager for Emerson Process Management in the Middle East and Africa describes two of the latest installations.
No matter which process control magazines, journals or on-line portals you access you will not have been able to avoid reading about wireless technologies. All the articles agree that wireless is a good thing and that it will open up many new measurement points that were just not possible or economically feasible before. Where some articles differ from others is in the way that they are advocating the technology that should be applied.
There is not a dispute in the fact that applying it across the whole plant brings enormous benefits, but the normally conservative process companies do not want to have to make that investment up front before they have tried and tested wireless and achieved some benefits.
A flexible approach
Emerson Process Management’s Smart Wireless products enable either a top-down or bottom up model. Users can begin at the plant level and work down to the field, or at the field and work up. At the field level, wireless field networks are extremely low-powered to enable the use of battery operated devices that function for many years. These solutions are also extremely secure and reliable. Emerson uses open standards such as 802.15.4 and WirelessHART to achieve this.
At the plant level, wireless plant networks provide the high bandwidth, flexibility and expansion capabilities required in business and operational applications. Of course, security and reliability are just as important for these applications as well. Emerson uses open standards such as 802.11 (Wi-Fi) to provide these solutions.
Smart Wireless allows users to start anywhere based on highest priority needs; there is no requirement to invest in an expensive wireless infrastructure throughout the facility to try out a simple monitoring application.
Emerson’s gateways, devices, access points and software use wireless communication standards and have gone through rigorous coexistence testing. This ensures seamless integration and easy expansion later as confidence in the technology evolves.
For example, if additional process measurements would help improve product quality or reduce energy usage we would recommend a sensor network at the field level starting with just a single gateway. If mobile access to plant information is needed then set up plant-level wireless access points so workers can get the information they need wherever they are. If both types of applications are important then implement them both at once using the plant-through-field strength of the unified Smart Wireless architecture.
In short, flexibility and scalability mean users can start wherever it makes sense, without investing in more infrastructure than needed. This is certainly the experience of Emerson, which has applied wireless technology in numerous process industry applications across all world areas: applications such as well head monitoring at the BP Wytch Farm onshore oilfield.
BP boosts productivity
Wytch Farm is Western Europe’s largest onshore oilfield, comprising three separate oil reservoirs that lie under Poole Harbour and Poole Bay in Dorset, UK. These reservoirs are accessed via many different wells located around the oilfield and on islands in the bay.
As part of a drive to improve operations, BP wanted to increase the available information, improve worker efficiency, and remove the need for operator rounds. “Manual reading of pressure gauges on the wellhead was identified as one area we could improve,” explained Chris Geen, BP manager, “but we found that wired transmitters were simply too expensive due to the wiring infrastructure needed, so wireless is the perfect technology for this application.”
Emerson’s Smart Wireless transmitters are enabling continuous monitoring of the wellhead pressure that indicates the condition of the well. Previously the pressure was measured by using gauges that were manually read once or twice a day. Continuous monitoring eliminates the need for daily visits to the wellhead and enables unusual readings to be identified earlier and action taken to investigate and rectify faults before they develop into serious problems.
The Smart Wireless self-organising mesh technology is very reliable, and each measurement point has a redundant communication via two or three routes. With Smart Wireless each wireless device can act as a router for other nearby devices, passing messages along until they reach their destination. If there is an obstruction, transmissions are simply re-routed along the network until a clear path to the Smart Wireless Gateway is found.
All of this happens automatically, without any involvement by the user, providing redundant communication paths and better reliability than direct, line-of-sight communications between individual devices and a receiver. This self-organising technology optimises data reliability while minimising power consumption. It also reduces the effort and infrastructure necessary to set up a successful wireless network.
The Smart Wireless network installed on one of the well sites at Wytch Farm includes 40 wireless Rosemount pressure transmitters. Two transmitters are mounted on each wellhead and a single Smart Wireless gateway, mounted outside the process area, connects the transmitters to the control system. Data is collated in a PI historian database with the information used for regular maintenance and safety reports.
Installation was quick and easy. Despite short access periods to the site, it took less than eight hours in total to complete including removal of all the old gauges, replacing them with the Rosemount wireless transmitters and performing a three-point manual calibration check on every device. All devices were on-line within 30 minutes.
Despite cable trays, dense pipe work, and other metal obstructions shielding some of the transmitters from the gateway, when each transmitter was powered up the devices found the gateway and the mesh was established. As new devices were added they quickly and easily joined the self-organising network. Signal strength and consistency during the operational period has been excellent.
“Wytch Farm has been a critical pilot project for BP to see if self-organising wireless mesh technology would be suitable for other similar projects. Following the success of this installation, BP is planning to install Emerson Smart Wireless transmitters in similar applications on offshore platforms,” said Geen.
Total commitment
Total Petrochemicals is also taking advantage of Smart Wireless technology. The company produces a range of basic petrochemicals at the Carling site including ethylene, propylene, methane and styrene, as well as plastic consumer products including polyethylene and polystyrene. These products are produced by the process of steam cracking, whereby petroleum along with either gas-oil or naphtha are mixed in a cracking oven with superheated steam at a temperature of 800°C.
Total Petrochemicals wanted to better understand the condition of the boiler and anticipate when it might need to be replaced. To achieve this aim the company was keen to introduce a number of new temperature measurement points. By measuring the internal and external temperature of the boiler walls and identifying heat loss, it is possible to calculate the material’s resistance and infer its thickness.
“Our plant is more than 30 years old,” said Jerome Uszes, maintenance manager, Total Petrochemicals. “With the rising cost of copper and ageing existing wiring, finding alternative methods to carry data throughout the plant is becoming essential. We believe in wireless technologies, and Emerson is a pioneer that is on the right track to offer a solution that meets our needs.”
Eight Rosemount 648 wireless temperature transmitters were installed directly onto the exterior of a boiler drum situated 50 metres above the ground. An Emerson Smart Wireless Gateway was positioned on the roof of a technical building around 300 metres from the devices. Two additional temperature gauges were installed in strategic areas between the boiler and the gateway to provide sufficient coverage to the area and to enable supplementary measuring points to be added in the future as required.
Data from the wireless transmitters is passed from the gateway to a third-party DCS via Modbus. From the control room, the operators have gained visibility of the thermal status of the boiler walls, allowing them to determine how the internal (process) and external (climatic) conditions impact the material’s deterioration.
This non-critical monitoring of the boiler walls presented Total Petrochemicals with the perfect opportunity to evaluate Smart Wireless technology on a large scale and in a real industrial environment.
In both examples the end user experienced fast installation and commissioning, quick connection to the network despite tough working conditions, and the reliable transmission of valuable new data to help improve the process. These are the kind of successful applications of wireless that are enabling customers to gain the experience they need before applying the technology on a larger scale.
The products and knowledge are available and the value clear for starting wireless now. By picking an application – even a small one – users can enjoy the satisfaction of application improvements only imaginable before wireless, and gain confidence and knowledge in its use.
For more information contact Widad Haddad, Emerson Process Management Dubai, +971 4811 8319, [email protected], www.emersonprocess.com
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