Wireless SCADA Gains Foothold
In an environment that included fiery temperatures and molten metal, a steel manufacturer was unable to use traditional hard-wired networks to monitor much of its sophisticated, expensive equipment. But, like many manufacturers facing global competition and tight margins, the company wanted to install sensors on its steel manufacturing equipment for preventative maintenance because they knew downtime meant lost revenues.
“There are a lot of applications where you can’t get hard-wired devices. Molten metal melts copper wire,” said Gerald Niemi, product line manager at B&B Electronics Manufacturing Co., an Ottawa-based manufacturer and distributor of industrial communications products.
While manufacturers are comfortable with hard-wired supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) solutions, most have been slow to adopt wireless iterations of these devices, industry executives said. In an environment where change takes a long, gradual turn, there have been successful pilot programs at a diverse group of manufacturers, which are helping wireless SCADA gain foothold in this vast vertical market.
Executives are considering using sensors for applications such as temperature, moving machines, HVAC, security, and utilities, Niemi said. Among the most popular applications are process monitoring, environmental monitoring, predictive maintenance, process control, and industrial safety monitoring.
Source and more info: InTech