Honeywell expands wireless solution portfolio with Gauge Reader

The product wirelessly monitors manual gauge readings from existing dial gauges, allowing operators to analyze critical equipment health and process information and make decisions to improve plant operations.

Honeywell jointly developed the product with Cypress Envirosystems, a subsidiary of Cypress Semiconductor Corp., and it will integrate with Honeywell's OneWireless mesh network designed to simultaneously accommodate thousands of field devices and multiple industrial protocols.

The OneWireless Gauge Reader non-intrusively attaches to existing dial gauges without requiring the plant to disrupt on-going processes or remove old gauges, break pressure seals or run wires.

The device provides gauge measurement data that is displayed quickly on operator consoles in the control room, such as the Honeywell Icon Series, and on mobile field devices such as Honeywell's Experion Mobile Station.

The control system can proactively send alerts to operators to notify them when gauges exceed certain limits.

The additional data now available to the operator helps improve plant energy efficiency by monitoring compressed air, steam, water, exhaust and venting, and compiling data for energy audits and baselines.

Mike Long, Control System Supervisor at Tri-State Generation and Transmission, said:

"The Gauge Reader network was up and running in approximately three hours. In the first two weeks of using it, we were able to detect and develop corrective measures for a potentially costly issue in our plant that we never suspected with our daily manual gauge rounds."

The OneWireless Gauge Reader also is ideal for temporary uses with consumable materials. For instance, plants can use the device to read inventory levels for gas cylinders that require periodic replacement. By monitoring the cylinder levels, plants can proactively determine when to replace the cylinder before the cylinder is empty and avoid unplanned downtime that leads to lost production.

"The reader's monitoring capabilities allow plant operators to spend less time reading gauges and more time on other critical tasks, such as optimizing plant performance based on this additional data," said Ged Blenkharn, Regional General Manager of Honeywell Process Solutions Middle East. "It will help our customers analyze trends, save energy and streamline operator tasks."