Pumps in chemical, petrochemical, refining and other industrial plants need to be monitored, even if they are in remote locations, such as a lift station or pipeline. When a pump fails, it can cause catastrophic failures.
But monitoring pumps, especially in remote areas, isn’t easy. Tom Bass, Wireless Business Development Director at Emerson Automation Solutions, writes in his article, Remote Monitoring of Pumps with WirelessHART Transmitters in Automation.com, that many pumps are located in hazardous areas, in locations difficult to reach, or in locations where power for instrumentation is limited. Therefore, few pumps are monitored, he says:
“In many facilities, automated monitoring is used for only 10% of the most critical pumps, or not at all. That leaves nearly 90% of pumps in a typical facility to rely on manual rounds, unnecessary maintenance or running to failure.”
A major problem is the cost of wired instrumentation. Installing wired 4-20mA or fieldbus flow, pressure, level, temperature, vibration and other transmitters is expensive and time consuming, especially in remote areas. Tom says WirelessHART® transmitters are the answer:
“The chief advantage of wireless systems is they can be installed virtually anywhere in a cost-effective manner. Wireless transmitters have power modules and require no wired infrastructure or local power supply, so they can be installed in locations far away from a process unit’s wired infrastructure.”
For almost the same cost as hard-wiring additional process transmitters from a remote pump to a control system, a complete WirelessHART pump monitoring system with diagnostic software can be installed. And it costs even less if the plant already has a WirelessHART infrastructure installed because the new transmitters simply join and strengthen the existing infrastructure.
A wireless pump monitoring system can pay for itself quickly, as Tom describes:
“The refinery has 120 critical pumps distributed throughout its process and auxiliary plants. Cavitation problems are its biggest issue, followed by leaking seals. The refinery installed wireless pump health monitoring systems for early failure detection on the 120 pumps. The system helps detect pump problems, thereby reducing pump failures, cutting maintenance costs, and saving the refinery approximately $1 million per year.”
Tom also explains how WirelessHART technology can be used to detect pump problems such as cavitation, bearing wear, vibration, deadheads, and seal failures, as well as helping the plant run pumps near their best efficiency point. In summary, Tom says:
WirelessHART technology has changed the landscape of remote pump monitoring. At a fraction of the installed cost of wired transmitters, plants can enhance preventive maintenance and support manual rounds with on-line condition monitoring. This not only gives early indication of failure, but also avoids unnecessary maintenance on pumps that are healthy.