Engineering apps have been around for a while now, bringing new capabilities to smartphones and tablets. Most provide modest assistance for tasks such as pipe sizing or tank volume calculations, while others are product selectors and the like. Emerson has truly raised the bar on the whole concept of specialized apps with the introduction of Plantweb Insight, and the industry is taking notice.
Processing Magazine recently announced its Breakthrough Products Award Winners for 2017, and Plantweb Insight was the only software product on the list. This isn’t Plantweb Insight’s first award, and it probably won’t be the last either. Why? Forgive a little horn tooting, but this is a major development. As Processing says:
Emerson Automation Solutions’ Plantweb Insight software “apps” are a breakthrough in the way engineers monitor and diagnose equipment problems. With WirelessHART® instrumentation and Plantweb Insight software, engineers can quickly install wireless instruments on equipment such as pumps, steam traps and heat exchangers; send the data to a PC; process the data with a dedicated software app; and see results on mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones.
Bottom line, these apps help users realize the benefit of all the new wired and wireless instrumentation available for monitoring equipment condition and performance. Adding a device to monitor a heat exchanger is easy. Getting it to send its data to someone who can analyze it and turn it into actionable information is the hard part. Plantweb Insight sorts through the raw data and turns it into something useful.
Apps are available for pumps, steam traps, heat exchangers and pressure relief valves, with more to be released soon. Plantweb Insight does not require any connection to the plant’s existing control system. However, it can make its data available to the control system or acquire data from the control system or historian if desired. Plantweb Insight allows a plant to monitor equipment with an easy-to-install, inexpensive system that does not interfere with the control system.
Plantweb Insight works hand-in-hand with WirelessHART networks, and new monitoring devices added to watch these functions become part of the plant network, strengthening the overall performance by adding more mesh points.
Installing wired instrumentation can be an expensive process, especially in hazardous areas or where additional cable, conduit, marshalling cabinets and I/O cards may be needed. Wireless avoids these problems. Plants no longer need to acquire or develop software to process the data. Plantweb Insight solutions can be installed and running in a matter of a few days at a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions.
All these things working together make it happen, providing new ways to make plants more profitable by reducing operating costs and avoiding production outages.
You can find more information like this, and meet with other people looking at the same kinds of situations in the Emerson Exchange365 community. It’s a place where you can communicate and exchange information with experts and peers in all sorts of industries around the world. Look for the WirelessHART and IIoT Groups and other specialty areas for suggestions and answers.