April 2002Maintenance, Test & Measurement, Calibration
The need to monitor events in the power generation environment is critical for maintenance and predictive diagnostics where accurate and high-speed discrimination between faults in a sequence of events can lead to fast recovery and repair.
Generating sets are generally the back-up supply or supplementary supply, which makes it crucial that they are reliable and that outages are resolved quickly. However, only a handful of manufacturers have managed to develop appropriate technology for the recording of these high-speed events to within the resolution generally required for generating sets. This can be a costly exercise to implement however the cost of downtime due to power outages most often outweighs the implementation costs in the short term.
A typical application for OMNILOG is the breaker monitoring on a generating set. In a shunt trip control system, series and parallel chains of contact require monitoring. Using Omniflex interface boards OMNILOG accomplishes this task with ease and every contact in the system can be monitored and reported on.
Omniflex designed and manufactured the OMNILOG sequential events recorder for a cost-effective implementation. The instrument is capable of monitoring over 128 digital inputs (potential free standard), time-stamping them at source to a resolution of 4 ms (1 ms if less than 32 inputs). OMNILOG's big brother SER260 handles 4064 inputs with a resolution of better than 1 ms and caters for larger scale applications with high-end reporting systems.
The very high levels of electrical noise found in generating systems and substations need to be filtered properly in order to ensure that the events recorder records only true events and not spurious signals. The events recorder is often complemented in its application with OMNI-16 enunciators, which provide visual indication of alarms and the first up-alarm while the events recorder captures all events and logs them to an integral printer.
The OMNILOG events recorder consists of a rack with up to four input cards each handling 32. Each 32-channel input card in the system provides 1500 V r.m.s. isolation between the field and the backplane, with 600 V r.m.s. isolation between channels.
Generating sets have a need to monitor almost 100 digital contacts to within 4 ms in order to determine what may have caused a line or generator fault. The information that the SER range of recorders gather in hundreds of installations around South Africa is invaluable in determining the cause of faults and therefore speeds up the repair and restoration process. Without the information provided by such recorders, maintenance engineers could only guess at the nature and sequence of faults.
Other products in use in power and substations are the Maxiflex remote I/O system and the Omni-16 alarm enunciator range. Both product ranges are ruggedised for the harsh electrical conditions found in these environments.
How industrial network design impacts ESG commitments Omniflex Remote Monitoring Specialists
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
In safety-critical industries like nuclear, petrochemical and oil and gas, installing a new industrial cable network is an extremely complicated task. Gary Bradshaw, a director of industrial network specialist, Omniflex explains why this is often unnecessary as plants are likely to have existing cabling capable of being used to create new industrial networks.
Read more...How CP system design can support ESG commitments Omniflex Remote Monitoring Specialists
Industrial Wireless
Major infrastructure like wharves, bridges, pipelines and tanks are under constant threat of corrosion, which can render them unsafe. David Celine, managing director of cathodic protection specialist, Omniflex explains how CP system design can support ESG commitments while simultaneously lowering costs and improving maintenance capabilities.
Read more...Automated test and measurement Comtest
Maintenance, Test & Measurement, Calibration
Comtest, in partnership with global brands, provides customised solutions with integrated hardware and software for efficient testing and data collection.
Read more...Inline particle measurement Mecosa
Maintenance, Test & Measurement, Calibration
Part of the SOPAT family, Parsum has for more than 20 years stood for the measurement of particles in a running process - without sampling and without a laboratory.
Read more...Inline analysis measurement technology Mecosa
Maintenance, Test & Measurement, Calibration
SOPAT develops and sells a photo-optical and image-based inline analysis measurement technology that quantitatively characterises particulate multi-phase systems. The software provides real-time analysis of particle size distribution.
Read more...Providing visibility over critical infrastructure Omniflex Remote Monitoring Specialists
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
Sequence of event recorders or sequence of event monitors play a significant role in monitoring and maintaining critical infrastructure. Gary Bradshaw, director at remote monitoring equipment specialist, Omniflex, outlines the applicable industries and reasons for use.
Read more...UV water treatment system
Maintenance, Test & Measurement, Calibration
bestUV is an innovative manufacturer of professional ultraviolet (UV) water treatment systems for industrial markets.
Read more...Boosting long-distance critical signal delivery in mining Omniflex Remote Monitoring Specialists
Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
In mining applications globally, conveyor belts of up to 20 km are used to transport ore. Damage to conveyors often causes cargo spillage and creates major safety risks. Ian Loudon, international sales manager at remote monitoring specialist, Omniflex explains how these challenges can be combatted using bidirectional fibre optic modules.
Read more...Improving mining efficiency with wireless telemetry Omniflex Remote Monitoring Specialists
Industrial Computer Hardware
Wireless telemetry systems are a critical tool in the mining industry as they facilitate automation, data collection, communication and remote monitoring and control in challenging environments. Ian Loudon, international marketing manager at wireless telemetry specialist, Omniflex explains how wireless telemetry systems can automate water pump monitoring and control in the mining sector.
Read more...Ensuring metrology compliance in oil and gas Omniflex Remote Monitoring Specialists
Industrial Wireless
To aid compliance verification in oil and gas, remote monitoring specialist Omniflex has partnered with calibration experts Kalibra OGC Services to provide the Maxiflex flow computer systems, including pulse integrity modules used for calibrating master metering systems.
printer friendly version