Chemical Processing - August 2007 - (Page 32) Advances provide insights on instruments and the overall process By Mike Spear, editor at large S ounding out the health of your plant has in the past been akin to visiting your own doctor. It’s something that absolutely needs to be done when suspicious symptoms start to show, but more normally is reserved for routine visits when regular check-ups are due. These days, however, your plant comes ready equipped with its own team of doctors in the shape of the many diagnostic and monitoring systems incorporated into instrumentation and other process equipment. And, like any good doctor, today’s plant diagnostics can look beyond the symptoms of poorly performing instruments and provide insights into the health of the process itself. Diagnostic and monitoring systems have been available for many years, of course, but generally were applied in something of a piecemeal way, protecting process-critical pieces of plant and equipment rather than offering a systemic view of the process. However, the widespread adoption of digital automation and fieldbus networks now has opened the door to much more powerful and advanced levels of diagnostics. “There is a lot of activity in diagnostics in general, and certain areas in particular,” notes Eddie Bridges, international product group manager with instrument maker Krohne, Peabody, Mass. Mounting pressure from end users certainly is spurring developments, he 32 • August 2007 adds. “NAMUR [the international association of users of process control technology in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries] has been pushing manufacturers into providing more information from the electronics in flowmeters, for example.” Plants want more diagnostics, agrees Paul Schmeling, senior marketing manager for Rosemount Pressure Products, Chanhassen, Minn., a part of Emerson Process Management. “This has been a popular message with customers, who are trying to do a lot more with their instrumentation. We have a lot of engineers working on this right now, both at the device level as well as the wider system loop level.” One result is its ASP Diagnostics Suite. www.chemicalprocessing.com http://www.chemicalprocessing.com
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