Wireless technology is a mostly untapped resource in the power generation industry that can have a significant impact on the way business is done. It enables a greater degree of connectivity among devices for enhanced monitoring and asset utilization and has led to the development of new applications that improve productivity, uptime, and overall business performance.
Industrial automation is one segment of the global economy that, to date, has failed to take advantage of wireless technology. Major industries such as oil and gas, chemical, power, and water and wastewater treatment continue to operate their plants mostly with older, hard-wired control systems. A typical process facility will have well over 1,000 measurement points, none of which currently uses wireless technology, and many additional points that go unmeasured because of the cost of running wires to each one. This overview focuses on the need for standards-compliant, wireless, sensor-based technology in these industries for enhanced plant asset management and the benefits that will result.
Most, if not all, industrial plants use networks to link devices and instruments to their control and management systems. Although these systems are complex, the majority work with simple analog information, such as temperature, pressure, level, and flow readings. Though they are effective, these control and management systems could add significant value if they were able to access data that would allow them to do much more than receive process measurements from a device or send commands such as "on/off" and "open/close," or respond to setpoints that essentially tell the plant how to operate.
Many of the devices and instruments in a plant actually collect and maintain intelligent digital data about their own performance, individual processes, or the overall operation of a plant. That data can be extremely valuable. For example, it can help managers predict when a problem might occur that would force a plant shutdown. Unfortunately, most of this data is trapped in devices. There is no easy way for plant operators to access the treasure trove of data and put it to good use.
One plant application area that could benefit from using wireless technology to take advantage of previously trapped highway addressable remote transducer (HART) data is plant asset management (PAM). The use of PAM systems is considered a best practice for asset performance management. PAM applications facilitate improved performance and increase the availability and reliability of plant assets by maintaining contact with all aspects of the plant, ranging from process, mechanical, and electrical equipment to field devices, analyzers, and networks. The PAM system’s role is to monitor asset health, predict potential problems and failures, and make the most of maintenance and operations decisions. PAM is about optimizing the performance, availability, and reliability of specific plant assets, which for the purpose of this article would be machinery, production, and automation.
PAM as a practice involves:
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Monitoring asset health. In many cases, this ideally involves real-time sensing to detect potential problem conditions, but frequently sensing actually occurs weekly, monthly, quarterly, or even yearly.
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Assessing asset health data to predict potential problems.
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Deciding on the optimal course of action for handling specific problems.
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Acting to prevent and resolve problems, such as issuing a work order to fix an instrument.
PAM application functionality usually includes:
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Plant start-up and commissioning management.
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Calibration and compliance management.
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Monitoring of smart field devices.
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Analysis of field data, such as for vibration patterns or valve signatures.
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Integration with enterprise asset management and computerized maintenance management systems.
The popularity of PAM systems is driven by several factors, including a rapidly growing number of plant assets, smaller field staffs, and an increasing rate of retirement for the aging baby boomer workforce. There are now more loops for a technician to maintain and less expertise per technician. PAM systems are a major supplement to the workforce and enable assets to be managed effectively. Given these drivers, process manufacturing companies are realizing that maintaining competitive returns on plant assets takes more than just manual workforce efforts.
PAM systems go well beyond improving maintenance, according to the ARC Advisory Group, which is a consulting firm that specializes in helping utilities deal with power operations management and technology strategies. ARC estimates that by employing PAM systems, the number of unplanned plant breakdowns could be reduced by nearly 45%, while production downtime could be cut by slightly more than 20%. In addition, plant managers could reduce their spare parts inventory costs by 25% and product defects by about 10%. On top of this, ARC estimates asset performance could be improved by almost 40%, while workforce efficiency would increase about 20% and plant availability would improve by about 15%.
Another use of wireless access to a HART instrument is remote field device management. For instance, plant maintenance staff can cut time and effort by remotely adjusting configuration parameters, such as damping of upper and lower range settings, through their wireless PAM system. There is no need to physically locate instruments or do handwritten reports.
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