Hydrocarbon Engineering - March 2017

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March 2017 93 HYDROCARBON
ENGINEERING
In a climate of heightened consumer demand, regulation and
liability, operators must maintain strict adherence to process
tolerances. But traditional analogue measuring systems
often cannot deliver sufficient accuracy or report on status.
What is the alternative? Eliminating analogue data transfer and
adding predictive maintenance by using intelligent sensors.
Nowadays, inexpensive analogue to digital converters
permit the production of cheap, high resolution measurement
devices, including scales, that promise to delivery accuracy in
process technology. However, these devices often miss a
whole set of metadata that production engineers need to
enhance processes, only offering the illusion of precision –
similar to comparing timekeeping using an hourglass vs a
modern digital quartz watch.
As with the hourglass, there may be production situations
where this general sense of accuracy is satisfactory and a
simple analogue load cell is the correct choice. However,
critical processes will benefit from the selection of measuring
devices designed to provide ongoing accuracy to help
guarantee long-term adherence to both tolerances and
regulatory requirements. They can be a particularly wise
investment for automated production plants in the
‘Industry 4.0’ and ‘Industrial Internet of Things’ climate.
Providing higher accuracy
Future-oriented weighing technology for automation is
based on intelligent load cells. The central element of these
intelligent load cells is a microprocessor for signal
Eugen Schibli, Mettler Toledo,
Switzerland, explains how
intelligent weighing sensors
with predictive maintenance can
help the downstream processing
industry to stay ahead of issues
and avoid disruptions.