Flowmeter solution delivers reliable, accurate measurement in challenging applications
Emerson has released its Rosemount™ 9195 Wedge Flow Meter, a fully integrated solution consisting of a wedge primary sensor element, supporting components and a selectable Rosemount pressure transmitter. The new meter’s unique flexible design (FIG. 1) is ideal for measuring process fluids with a wide range of demanding characteristics in various heavy industry applications, including metals and mining, oil and gas, renewable fuels, chemicals and petrochemicals, pulp and paper, and others.
It can be very difficult to measure volumetric flow accurately and reliably in applications where the process liquid is highly viscous, extremely abrasive, prone to plugging, at high temperature or a combination of these conditions. In applications with low ambient temperatures, hot process media or a combination of both, heat tracing is often required, necessitating a supply of electrical power and creating a maintenance-intensive single point of failure.
The Rosemount 9195 Wedge Flow Meter addresses these and other common measurement challenges with its unique design. The wedge element itself has no small passages that could plug due to entrained particles, and it is abrasion-resistant due to the shallow approach angle of the process liquid and the lack of critical sharp edges. Highly viscous liquids are measured accurately due to the linear response of the meter, even at low Reynolds numbers.
The sensor’s operating temperature range is –40°F to 1,000°F (–40°C to 538°C) and the meter is available with Emerson’s Rosemount 3051S Thermal Range Expander for measuring hot or viscous liquids, without the need for heat tracing.
Two-way digital connections from the selected pressure transmitter to a host, such as a distributed control or an asset management system, can be made via 4-20 mA HART®, WirelessHART®, FOUNDATION™ Fieldbus, Modbus® or BSAP/MVS. Depending on the selected transmitter, a wide range of process variables can be sent to host systems for process control and monitoring, diagnostics and other purposes.
Application flexibility is provided with three sensor/transmitter connection styles:
To simplify ordering and ensure the correct remote seal system is specified, five optional application packages—including standard, abrasive, ultra-high process temperature, cold environment and remote mount—are available for the sensor element.
Available line sizes for the sensor are 2 in.–8 in. (50 mm–200 mm). All wetted materials are 316L stainless steel, and the meter complies with ASME B31.3 and CRN safety standards. Additional materials and sizes can be accommodated upon request.
For more information, visit www.Emerson.com/Rosemount-Wedge.
Upgraded integrated production control system strengthens support for industrial networks
Yokogawa Electric Corp. has released its CENTUM™ VP R6.11.10, an enhanced version of the CENTUM VP integrated production control system that is a core product in the OpreX™ Control and Safety System family of solutions.
With this new version of CENTUM VP, plant uptime is improved through the addition of a redundancy function to a new IO card that supports communications via the PROFINET communications protocol for industrial networks (FIG. 2). Furthermore, to reduce project costs and improve efficiency in plant operations, functional enhancements have been made to the Unified Alarms and Conditions Server (UACS) and the CCC Inside™ for the Yokogawa CENTUM VP compressor control solution.
PROFINET is one of the most widely used Ethernet-based industrial communications protocols worldwide, boasting excellent real-time performance. In 2019, Yokogawa developed an IO card that supports PROFINET. While this enabled the monitoring of the operation of PROFINET-compatible devices from CENTUM VP, more needed to be done to improve reliability and uptime. To meet this need, Yokogawa has developed a new PROFINET IO card that supports a redundancy function, and by doing so, has made high reliability and high uptime a reality.
This new CENTUM VP release also features functional enhancements to the UACS and the CCC Inside™ for the Yokogawa CENTUM VP compressor control solution that will improve the efficiency of operations and engineering at plants.
Product features include:
Key markets include oil refining, petrochemicals, chemicals, electric power, pulp and paper, gas, pharmaceuticals, food, iron and steel, water supply and wastewater treatment, non-ferrous metals, metal, cement, etc. Applications include plant operational monitoring and automatic control.
For more information, visit https://www.yokogawa.com/solutions/products-and-services/control/control-and-safety-system/distributed-control-systems-dcs/centum-vp/
High-temperature probe certified for use in all hazardous areas
Maintaining the balance of production and maintenance is never an easy task, especially when it comes to hazardous environments. Cygnus has released its latest addition to the company’s diverse UT range: a new accessory expanding the applications of the Cygnus 1 Ex Ultrasonic Thickness Gauge (FIG. 3). The new Cygnus High-Temperature Ex Probe, like the Ex gauge, is certified for use in all hazardous areas: Zones 0, 1 and 2. Coupled with the Ex gauge, the equipment can measure wall thickness, corrosion or erosion of hot assets in service across the oil and gas, refining, energy and process sectors.
Developed with Ionix® Advanced Technologies, this twin-element, 5.0-MHz ultrasonic probe measures the remaining wall thickness range from 2.5 mm–50 mm, depending on the temperature and material. It has excellent wear resistance, allowing for continuous contact time on hot surfaces up to 300°C without the need for plant shutdown or isolation.
No cooling period is required, which significantly reduces inspection time, eliminating any need for breaks in the testing schedule, which in turn facilitates more-effective measurement and efficient testing operation.
The ATEX, IECEx and UKEX certificates permit the equipment to operate in Zone 0, 1 and 2 explosive atmospheres (also known as hazardous areas). These are locations where there are risks of fire or explosion due to the presence of ignitable or flammable substances in the air. These substances (e.g., gases, vapors) are present in the air at concentrations high enough to produce an ignitable mixture. These areas—and often processing plants as a whole—contain multiple hot assets that require regular inspection: chemical plants, power plants, petrochemical refineries, processing plants, and oil and gas refineries.
For enhanced protection and durability, a special probe cable wrapped in a glass-fiber outer braid has been designed for use with the High-Temperature Ex Probe. The probe and probe cable are sold separately to enable lower replacement costs.
For more information, visit https://cygnus-instruments.com/product/cygnus-1-ex/
New wireless IIoT solution/platform
AMETEK Level Measurement Solutions (LMS), a business of AMETEK Inc., has launched BrightTEK, a state-of-the-art wireless Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solution designed to redefine operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness in various industries.
BrightTEK leverages wireless technology to facilitate seamless data transmission from AMETEK LMS branded transmitters—including Magnetrol®, Orion Instruments®, Drexelbrook®, SWI and B/W Controls—offering visibility to key variables to help optimize onsite operations.
BrightTEK is engineered to address the growing need for advanced wireless communication solutions in industrial environments. The platform's ability to transmit data wirelessly directly to the customer-facing BrightTEK webserver promises a new era of efficiency, reliability, remote data monitoring and inventory management.
Key advantages of BrightTEK include:
The company’s datacenters are certified SOC 2 Type 2 and SOC 3 (Tank Monitoring), demonstrating its commitment to maintaining high standards of security and compliance.
BrightTEK introduces two uplink options designed to cater to diverse industrial needs:
The BrightTEK webserver is a user-friendly, web-based platform providing real-time insights into process variables such as tank levels, volume and location data. With customizable notifications, alerts and alarms, users can proactively manage their operations, supply chain and inventory, leading to efficiency and significant return on investment (ROI) through reduced servicing costs and improved inventory management. Moreover, BrightTEK is committed to the highest standards of cybersecurity, employing proactive measures to safeguard data.
For more information, visit https://www.ametek-measurement.com/
AI-powered autonomous inspection software designed to transform energy asset inspections
GE Vernova, a global leader in electrification, decarbonization and energy solutions, has launched Autonomous Inspection, a cloud-based computer vision software solution designed to automate the manual inspection and monitoring of industrial assets by utilizing image capture devices and artificial intelligence/machine-learning (AI/ML) algorithms.
This new software integrates with select applications within GE Vernova’s Asset Performance Management (APM), a suite of software and services designed to help asset performance and operations and maintenance efficiency across equipment, plant and an entire fleet. Designed to be industry-agnostic, Autonomous Inspection can help users in energy generation and other industries access and act on visual data and insights within APM applications to improve asset and operational outcomes.
Autonomous Inspection is the eyes of the company’s APM suite and is powered by AI technology that turns images into rich data that can help power insights to transform how industry safeguards, optimizes and propels the future of energy. Digitalizing operations has helped customers in quality, safety and performance improvements, as well as emissions management.
Despite significant digital progress witnessed by the energy industry, traditional manual asset inspection processes often continue to slow momentum and pose challenges. They are often resource intensive, prone to safety risks and errors, and difficult to scale. Furthermore, they are fast becoming unsustainable due to the rapidly changing energy landscape with the decentralization of assets due to renewables sources, workforce availability challenges and tougher generation requirements.
Autonomous Inspection is designed to support and contribute to the digital transformation of the energy industry in multiple ways, including:
Additionally, Autonomous Inspection can be useful when it comes to inspecting geographically dispersed assets like solar and wind farms, where a manual inspection approach is ineffective.
Designed as an industry-agnostic solution, Autonomous Inspection can serve applications in industries beyond energy generation. The cloud-based, AI-powered software has the capability to automate inspection and monitoring workflows, including automated image data collection, processing, integration, analysis and management. It is available for a range of use cases, including automated gauge reading, corrosion detection and severity classification, and thermal profiling of equipment. By leveraging computer vision, Autonomous Inspection tackles the traditional inspections bottleneck, enabling smarter, data-driven inspections and helping firms accelerate progress on digitalization and energy transitions goals.
For more information, visit Transform manual inspections with AI-powered smart inspections (ge.com) HP