SKF condition monitoring sensor suitable for hazardous areas
April 2016Maintenance, Test & Measurement, Calibration
The superior quality, versatile SKF wireless machine condition sensor provides seamless condition monitoring for large plants, hard-to-reach locations and hazardous environments.
The sensors communicate with each other via a wireless gateway to create a mesh network. This type of network and communication protocol is ideal for providing dynamic vibration and temperature data for condition monitoring and machinery diagnostic applications for rotating machinery throughout large plants including in hard-to-reach locations or in areas where traditional WiFi communications do not work.
Using the WirelessHart communication protocol, the system offers monitoring capabilities that may be impossible with wired systems, or hand-held devices, which can ultimately lead to reduced condition monitoring costs as well as to a safer approach to machine monitoring.
Communication capabilities include relaying data from one node to another, relaying data back to the gateway, and receiving automated commands from the Wireless Sensor Device Manager software. This software initiates the measurement and processing circuits to take data and transmit it back over the network. If a node is unable to receive signals directly from the WirelessHART gateway, it will instead send and receive its data through a nearby node that can pass the data to and from the gateway – ultimately creating the mesh network.
Once data is collected, the WirelessHART gateway communicates with the Wireless Sensor Device Manager software supplied by SKF. Device Manager then automatically exports the data into SKF @ptitude Analyst where a plant engineer can analyse the data and determine a course of action. The Wireless Machine Condition Sensor has been developed to be fully compatible with the established SKF @ptitude Analyst software suite, a comprehensive diagnostic and analytic software package.
ATEX Zone 0 certification makes the product ideally suited for use in hazardous environments typically found in petrochemical, oil and gas and pharmaceutical plants.
The unit combines both a sensor and router node into one compact and battery-operated unit the size of a typical industrial accelerometer. The sensor operates in a low power consumption mode, allowing the battery to last for years in the field.
SKF’s Wireless Machine Condition Sensor offers users a number of important benefits including an improved maintenance programme, reduced maintenance and installation costs, enhanced employee and machine safety.
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