Process Equipment Update
and reduce environmental impact, maintenance costs, and repair costs.
Company figures show that a typical process with 200 steam traps could be losing 8900t/y of steam at a cost of over £90,000/y – or a million litres of fuel oil. In environmental terms, this is over 3000t of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.
Wireless monitoring Spirax Sarco’s answer to this comes in the form of its new STAPS wireless steam trap monitoring system which has been designed to efficiently monitor and evaluate steam trap operation.
STAPS surveys the operation of the steam trap at regular intervals and identifies poor performance that can cause reduced plant efficiency and increased energy consumption (Fig. 1).
It can diagnose both failed-open steam traps that leak live steam and those that have failed-closed or are blocked that result in waterlogging leading to plant damage, product spoilage and health and safety concerns.
Using non-intrusive installation technology combined with a 2.4GHz wireless network, the company says it is an ideal solution for steam trap monitoring.
It is suitable for use with all types of steam trap and can be connected to pipework up to 100mm (4-in), via an adjustable clamp.
Sound signature The head unit assembly mounted on the pipe upstream of the trap to be monitored ‘listens’ to the sound signature of the trap in operation.
This sound signature is categorised and transmitted via the wireless network to a central PC. The PC determines the trap condition and calculates any steam loss.
For more information ✔ at
www.engineerlive.com/asia
Each STAPS head unit assembly is powered by a long life lithium battery which can last up to 10 years. It can communicate directly to a receiver that is connected to the PC software via a LAN connection or via another intelligent head or repeater.
The PC software can be installed onto a PC on the sites internal network, or onto a standalone local PC.
The STAPS head, repeater and receiver create a network and can communicate with each other, passing on the steam trap data to the supervisory PC.
Developed at the company’s global R&D centre in Cheltenham, UK, and tested at its own and customer facilities around the world, STAPS is now on the market.
Preventative maintenance Meanwhile, Emerson reports success from a wireless steam trap monitoring
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39