Video monitors hazardous environment

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September 2007 Sensors & Transducers

IVC video systems are being used at a major chemical plant to monitor a hazardous material incineration facility. The cameras monitor the flow of materials through the facility, confirm the accuracy of material identification, and importantly, assure employee safety in potentially hazardous areas.

This chemical incinerator is monitored by an IVC industrial video system integrated into the client’s DCS

In this application IVC PTZ-3140 cameras are located to view the following:

* Tank farm area where the tops of multiple tanks are viewed to assure no personnel are down.

* Truck unloading bay where road tankers unload hazardous materials into holding tanks for storage or to be 'hot piped' directly to the incinerator. A spill in this area could be extremely dangerous and a rapid response is essential.

* Drum conveyors where one camera overlooks five rows of conveyors that carry 210 litre drums to a master belt which then takes them to the incinerator. The high zoom enables the camera to read the 125 x 250 mm labels on the drums to verify their contents as they move down the lines. A second camera is placed to view the drums at the last conveyor stage point before they enter the furnace.

* Process back end viewing an area where normally no staff are present, to assure there are no process problems and no individuals are down.

* Drum unloading area surveying the front end of the process where trucks enter and drums are unloaded. This is a potentially hazardous area where immediate response is required if a drum spills or an employee is down.

In addition to the IVC cameras, there was an existing fixed view camera in an air-cooled enclosure that looks into the incinerator hearth. This camera was integrated into the IVC camera management system to simplify the operator interface.

IVC cameras were selected for their image quality, high quality zoom, their specialised industrial enclosures for hazardous areas, the ability to connect over an existing fibre-optic LAN, and ease of integration with the client's process control software. Specifically, the IVC TCP/IP based video runs at this plant on a multimode fibre-optic network with Cisco 2400 10/100 switches. The IVC PTZ-3140 cameras include fully integrated fibre-optic media converters. The facility uses an ABB DCS control software and the IVC video and video controls are displayed through the ABB HMI software.

This IVC video system enables the client's plant to operate safer and more efficiently. The company is considering additional IVC PTZ-3142 camera domes, which are pressurised with nitrogen and certified by Factory Mutual to Class I Division II for use in potentially explosive areas.

For more information contact H3iSquared, +27 (0)11 454 6025, brendan@h3isquared.com, www.H3iSquared.com

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