aNd USE WIRELESS VALVE-MONITORING TECHNOLOGY TO YOUR ADVANTAGE TT. SEQUEIRA, Pentair Valves & Contols, Houston, Texas Financial pressures, combined with increasing safety and cavizonmental requirements, have resulted ina significant in- crease in the need for valve-postion monitoring in industrial plants. However the potential cost involved in puttinga moni- toring system in place means that larger numbers of valves re- ‘main unmonitored. ‘Keeping a large population of unmonitored valves has sev- zal implications. For example, a manual valve may be incor- rectly left open, closed or partially open. Since most manual valves are not monitored, those events can go undetected fora significant time, causing considerable operational losses, along ‘with environmental and safety risks. ‘A major restriction when installing automation systems is the need to use wires to connect sensors and actuators. Wir- ing an automation system ina modem plantis time-consuming and costly (eg, due to the cost of cables, cable trays, cabinets, and associated input/output (1/0) points and installation), leaves considerable footprint and adds significantly to weight. ‘Due to wiring cost, only one third ofthe automated valves ‘have limit switches (only the solenoid is wired), leaving two thirds ofthese automated valves without any position feedback. ‘The valve industry has reacted to this need by developing, wireless cal solutions to help plants increase the umber of monitored valves, avoiding the financial burden. ‘According to recent research, wireless technology can triple ‘monitoring instrumentation in atypical plant. This technology can be applied to both manual and auto- mated rotary or linear valves, and it provides real-time infor- mation about a valve’ status directy into the control system, increasing safety and yield, In addition, ican provide the valves ‘operational signature, enabling cost-effective predictive mainte- nance. Finally in new construction, itcan reduce material cost, simplify engineering and installation, reduce commissioning and startup costs and help in space-constained situations. The increasing need to monitor valves. The need toremotely ‘monitor valves in a wide range of plant applicationsis driven by several key factors: facilities must operate efficiently, and they must adhere to industry and regulatory standards for safety and the environment. ‘There is mounting evidence of the cost of incidents and accidents. Of all major incidents and accidents in the refining and petrochemical industry, about 30% result in injury or loss off, and over 60% result in regulatory fines and production downtime. In addition, while the occupational safety incidents in these two industries declined by 90% between 1993 and 2005, the levels still considerable because, on average, plants in these industries will have one incident for every $00,000 work hours. The material cost of each incident in the same period has tsen by 50%. The average cost of each incident is about $12/ 1,000 barrels (bbl) of refining production! Plant management isincreasingly seeking ahigher awareness ‘ofplant conditions to improve efficiency and safety. In addition, plants must adhere to a growing body of safety and regulatory requirements that often increase the need for monitoring Atthe same time, an important trend inthe industry isto extend the intervals between planned shutdowns to increase productivity. Lack of valve monitoring alone is not the reason for all of the safety, efficiency and environmental issues mentioned above; those incidents happen for a number of reasons other than lack of valve monitoring. However, the understanding ‘of valve status needed to support these objectives can only be achieved through real-time monitoring. Monitored vs. unmonitored valves. Despite the ability of ‘monitoring systems to address many ofthese valves’ efficiency, safety and regulatory issues, installation of valve monitoring technology is limited. Industry research indicates that as many ‘as 70%-85% of valves in plats ae not monitored, ‘ASFG. | suggests, the range of automation of valves varies largely from one plant to another. Manual valves can make up ‘between 10% and 55% ofthe valve population ofa plant, and practically al of them will have no monitoring. Among auto- ‘mated valves typically two thirds will also have no monitor- ng. In total that leaves as many as 70%-85% of valves without ‘monitoring capabilites. Implications of unmonitored valves. One ofthe main impli- ‘ations of having a large number of unmonitored valves has to «do with safety. Less monitoring means less information about valve positions in both manual and automated systems, which increases uncertainty and risk. Without remote monitoring, at reason fr vartton nave aston cst: Data upp $9,005,000 pera ues, able trays, cle, s,s, et) o, [os [ws] (eet ‘vate a [ramen] ae ‘area neti a * hte ave-| lene a onset) Mees seme: (ect) ‘my ay domtng peste FG. 1. In atypical industrial installation, mos! valves are not monitored, Image couriesy of Westlock ControlsSS) ‘many plants most physically inspect valves to ascertain their statuses. This sends personnel into potentially dangerous envi- ronments or limits inspection. Lack of monitoring also affects efficiency and performance in plants. The adage, “You cannot improve what you cannot measure; applies almost perfectiy to this situation. Valves pre- cisely control the flow of media in process plants. Lack ofinfor- sation froma large percentage of these valves can lead toa bad batch and significantly limit plant engineers in their efforts to control and improve efficiency. ‘There are also environmental implications. If an outflow valve that should be closed is accidentally let open, media can leakto the environment without notice or until another part of the control system discovers the error. ‘As previously mentioned, plant operators can face situations ‘where the valve is incorrectly opened, closed or left partially ‘open. These events can cause considerable operational losses, impose high costs and pose environmental and safety risks. ‘A major study inthe offthore oil and gas industry showed that almost $0% of valve incidents resulting in leakage to the cnvironment were attributed to “operational issues” (not to valve defects or malfunctioning), and almost 30% of these op- crational isoues were the direct result of a valve simply being left open or wrongly opened without notic.* FIG. 2, Wired monitoring has a complex infrastructure. Image courtesy of Wedlock Control FIG. 3, Wireless systems greatly simplify the monitoring infrasuctre, Image courisy of Weslock Controls, 86 VAVES 2013 | Hyocatocatrg com Restrictions for monitoring-system installation. In valve- intense applications monitoring hs historically been achieved with wired systeme. These systems facilitate monitoring but ‘resent many challenges that restrict the extent to which they Cane deployed, The challenge are inherent to wired systems and include such fundamentals as the cot of instalation and constraints on design and expansion. ‘Design imitations are presented by many factor, nclding ‘weigh, the number of installed devices and the complexity of the system, Costs are driven by instalation ofan infrastructure of wires, cable tras, cabinets and 1/Os, For atypical industrial {nstallaton, this may total §2,000-$5,000 per vale. "Automated valve-monitoring systems aze generally more expensive due to the need for wiring both sensors and actua- tors. Due to wiring cost constraints, two thirds of automated valves will have only a solenoid without position feedback, ‘More significantly for every antomated on /off ave there will be another 3-4 manually operated valves inthe plant, ‘Using conventional wiring to monitor valves has a huge cost associated with connecting 1/0 points inthe control sytem, distributed control system (DCS), supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system or programmable logic controller (PLC) (Fc. 2). ‘Long cable runs, fll cable trays and marshalling cabinets are common problems with these spplications. The labor in- tensive layouts and the difficulty in maintaining and modify {ng the sytem constrains engineering and installation options "A wired eystem can increate maintenance requirements in industrial or severe service applications. Wires can weat and break, and connections can shake loose, These systemt require knowledgeable personnel to ensure liability and per- formance, which can invole training and/or certifications ‘Manufacturer response to wireless valve monitoring. Wireless technology is the industry's response tothe increased need for remote valve monitoring in manual and automated applications. In contrast to wired systems, wireless valve moni- toring uses radio signals anda networked system of field moni- toring devices. The technology isintegrated with DCS, PLC and SCADA systems to provide realtime information on valve status, along with flow, temperature and density conditions with wire- less transmitters (PG. 3) ‘Wireless technology varies among manufacturers; howev- atypical manual valve system consists ofa wireless device at the valve, a wireless router, anda gateway connected to the plant network's maintenance and operations functions. Auto- ‘mation adds a return leg, with DCS/PLC controllers and so- Tenoid wiring backto the valve. Integration with the plant net- ‘work is facilitated with open protocols such as object linking and embedding for process control (OPC), Modbus remote ‘terminal unit/transmission control protocol (RTU/TCP), and PROFIBUS. Battery-powered monitoring devices used in the field are typically configured with a mesh network topology, which ensures fll redundancy and avoids any single point of failure. Within a network, datais routed using the most expedient path. ‘Wireless remote-monitoring systems address many of the challenges inherent in wired systems. Chief among these is significant reduction in cost, which provides a more affordable