Emerson Process Management’s Smart Wireless technology is enabling flexible, cost-effective control in applications where implementing and maintaining a wired network is too difficult or expensive.
“Besides gaining cost-effective insights by using Smart Wireless to monitor processes and equipment, users can now also exploit the advantages of this technology for better control of difficult applications,” says Bob Karschnia, vice president of wireless for Emerson Process Management.
One company gaining these advantages is Northstar Bluescope Steel, which replaced traditional wired instruments with Emerson’s Smart Wireless technology to improve furnace control at its mini-mill in Delta, Ohio, USA. The mill’s old, hard-wired network had hundreds of wiring junctions and suffered frequent measurement failures in the harsh environment, with its high electromagnetic field, flying slag, vibration, moisture, and temperatures as high as 1,650°C. With wireless measurements improved control and reduced downtime enabled the mill to boost production by as much as one batch per day, cut maintenance costs by €145,000 annually, and improve worker safety.
Major oil companies are also using Emerson’s Smart Wireless for steam-injection control on more than 2,300 remote wells that needed to be instrumented quickly to maximise field performance. The resulting improved control has also enabled the companies to avoid costly and inefficient over-steaming.
