A new, self-organising, Smart Wireless mesh is overseeing applications at one of BP's main sites in the US: the technology is also being expanded to other installations around the world.
Emerson Process Management and BP have announced an ongoing collaboration on the application of wireless technology as they strive to find ways to improve business performance.
To this end, BP has expanded its Cherry Point Washington refinery applications, installed Smart Wireless throughout its tank farm in its R&D facility in Naperville, Illinois, and is making installations at its other refineries around the world.
BP Cherry Point is a 225000 b/d refinery, and is the largest supplier of calcined coke to the aluminum industry. One out of every six aluminum cans is made using BP Cherry Point's calcined coke.
Emerson's Smart Wireless installation on the refinery's calciner unit monitors bearing and calciner coke temperatures to help prevent fan and conveyor failure (Fig.1). Fans can cost up to US$100000 to repair but, more importantly, can be down for up to ten days with associated production losses.
The 15-transmitter wireless installation in 2006 is believed to be the world's first industrial wireless mesh network installation, and continues to operate reliably while eliminating operator rounds in the field.
Cherry Point has expanded wireless use to 35 transmitters including tank farm and utility applications (Fig.2), and installation of a Smart Wireless gateway in the diesel unit to make it ready for wireless motes.
"The principal advantage we see around wireless is the ability to accumulate and analyse a much greater array of data than would otherwise be economically possible," said Michael Ingraham, technical manager for Cherry Point refinery. "Wireless enables us to get more data more efficiently, more economically than we ever have been able to in the past. We really hope our wireless technology will be a principal tool in maintaining plant availability while expanding our flexibility to meet fuel specs and ever changing array of feedstock."
Asecond facility, BP Naperville R&D, is a world-class technology centre including a modernised tank farm feeding an expanding number of pilot plants that develop processing technology options for BP refining worldwide.
Following the first application of Smart Wireless at BP's Cherry Point refinery, which BP saw as a success, BP installed a 45-transmitter wireless network at the Naperville tank farm. Operational for about one year, this has provided strong operational experience and a platform for testing the technology, leading to significant take-up of wireless at other BP refineries throughout the world.
"The wireless devices allow our operators to be more efficient, collecting data from one central point as opposed to walking around the tank farm and recording all the values," comments a BP representative. "The other advantage of the wireless devices is that they supply data continuously for recording in our historian, allowing us to see what is happening in the tank farm at any time of the day."
The Naperville wireless network uses Rosemount wireless transmitters to monitor suction, and discharge pressures, levels, flow, and temperatures. New wireless functions are installed as they become available, and emphasis is on collaboration with Emerson to expand the capabilities as rapidly as possible to cover refinery-wide applications.
The real-world environment, in a pilot-scale operation, provides feedback to Emerson and hands-on experience for refinery management. Options for refinery process optimisation and sharing of wireless automation technology are thereby shared globally by the refining technology team.
"Wireless is an important enabler for 'refinery of the future' technologies," commented Mark Howard, commercial technology manager for BP. "It helps us deploy the sort of instrumentation, sensors, and analytical devices that we need for condition monitoring to support predictive maintenance, tracking feedstocks through the value chain, and a host of other applications. Wireless is a very important vehicle for getting instrumentation into places where wired devices would be too expensive or frankly not very practical."
"Looking ahead, we support the move towards standards such as WirelessHART," continued Howard. "We like being able to access new wireless transmitters as quickly as we can deploy them, and we're getting very good robust operation. We look forward to a greater range of instrumentation becoming available."
"We value highly the collaboration with BP's refining technology and its refinery of the future team," said John Berra, president of Emerson Process Management. "Smart Wireless was conceived through years of R&D that led to Emerson's pioneering introduction to the market in 2006. Key in this effort was the parallel pioneering effort by BP in their trial mesh installation of Smart Wireless at Cherry Point in that same year. Our combined efforts have I believe moved the age of wireless forward at an accelerated pace."
Smart Wireless solutions are also at the heart of a cost-effective and reliable solution installed on PPG Industries' 765-acre chemical site in Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA, which is dense with pipes, buildings and equipment.
The production installation follows field trials of Emerson's self-organising wireless networks conducted by a PPG cross-functional process and corporate IT personnel team. The team verified the reliability and coexistence performance of the network, and also deployed it in the plant.
The plant's Smart Wireless network uses ten wireless Rosemount transmitters for pipeline and steam header temperature measurement which enables operators to watch for cold spots and adjust steam throughput.
PPG also commissioned eight wireless Rosemount transmitters on the self-organising mesh for tank level measurements to provide backup of primary radar level measurements, helping ensure level control.
PPG estimates installation costs for wired instruments that include near US$20 per foot for wiring and conduit. These wireless measurements have the potential to increase process reliability and provide low-cost redundant measurement. PPG is using wireless to make operational improvements by capturing and using new data, and is also anticipating cost advantages.
"Maintenance on the Emerson network?" questioned Reese Borel, process control specialist at PPG. "I haven't had to do any. It just runs."
"When Emerson first approached me with their industrial wireless solution, they said, 'We're plug and play.' I have to admit I laughed. Nothing I'd seen so far was that easy. But I'm a believer now. Five minutes after installing it, the wireless network came to life. It's been there ever since," explained Tim Gerami, senior design engineer with PPG Industries