Page 7 - Industrial Technology EXTRA 21st June 2021

WaterMaster flowmeters from hours to just
a few minutes. The pump hire company
uses the tool to quickly and easily verify the
accuracy of flowmeters used in its packaged
pumping systems between hires, enabling it
to ensure its customers can count on
accurate measurement of pumped flows in
their applications.
ABB is starting to automate the
verification process for its devices’ users,
assessing them by establishing a
connection with the devices, either through the less critical devices to failure is a viable philosophy.
plant’s own control network or independently of it. In the same plant, there may be other devices that
In partnership with Imperial College London, really must be monitored for their health and
ABB’s Ability Field Information Manager was used accuracy, such as instrumentation, gas analyzers or
to establish an independent communications link wastewater analyzers used to comply with
with the college’s measurement devices in its regulatory standards.
innovative Carbon Capture pilot plant. This Cybersecurity is also a consideration. For
software, combined with an online verification automated monitoring, companies will need to feel
application, checks the health of the devices, confident that a chosen supplier has both the device
displaying the harvested data on a dashboard that and network expertise to keep data secure. Larger,
the university can access through an online portal. more established vendors will have decades of
experience in securing data from critical
Making your move infrastructure such as power grids and refineries –
Ultimately, whether a company moves towards by contrast, startups may have some exciting
more use of condition monitoring depends on technology but may not be able to offer the secure
several factors, including their current device set up, services at scale that many users will be looking for.
their operating philosophy, their perception of value Device OEMs should also have the expertise to
and what they want from a potential supplier. take data from the operational level to the enterprise
For example, the size of the plant may be a level, so that organizations can see the economic
factor. Some process plants may have thousands of impact of device monitoring strategies and how they
devices. Obviously, those used on safety critical affect the success of the wider business.
applications will receive the most attention, for Ultimately, it is a cost versus benefit analysis.
example the pressure transmitter that opens a valve Yet, with very few purely analogue devices in
when a pressure vessel gets close to its maximum existence and the increasingly rich data sets now
pressure limit. available from digital instruments, using digital
Yet not all a plant’s many devices are monitoring diagnostics to improve accuracy, cut maintenance
a critical process. It may be more economical to costs, boost quality and productivity and ensure
settle for reactive maintenance of these devices – greater compliance to regulations makes increasing
they are usually very robust, with a life of some 10- sense.
20 years so there is an argument that running these new.abb.com

June 2021 • INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY EXTRA • p7