Electricity + Control May 2018

ANALYTICAL INSTRUMENTATION

Overview of Heartbeat Technology.

– would diminish. Under these conditions conven- tional radar and ultrasonic level transmitters would need to be regularly cleaned, sometimes as often as every hour. It would be time-consuming for the maintenance personnel and the ROM bin would be stopped, which leads to costly downtime. The copper mine wanted to avoid expensive mechanical changes and decided to use the com- pany’s Micropilot FMR67 radar level transmitter with Heartbeat Technology. This function monitors the extent of dirt build-up, and reports it back to the control room to alert the personnel of the need to clean the transmitter. The FMR67 also features a PTFE horn protector that reduces the rate of build-up. This means cleaning is required less fre- quently. The Copper Mine reached its objectives with the Heartbeat Technology devices. Conclusion Heartbeat Technology, as the company calls the intelligence, tracks the performance of the device to ensure it is not adversely affected by abrasion, corrosion or sticky build-up at the copper mine. Standardised and clear diagnostic messages are sent regarding what needs to be done to maintain the plant economically and as a matter of priority. As the devices run their own diagnostics, proof tests are only necessary in maximum extended cycles. Furthermore, the automatically generated protocols provided by Heartbeat Technology with- out process interruption support the documenta-

tion according to international standards request- ed by institutions. For future-orientated predictive maintenance the instruments offer parameters to monitor the performance for process optimisation. Heartbeat Technology is accompanied by two wiz- ards for easy commissioning of foam- or build-up detection.

Imagine a production process where devices can diagnose themselves!

Enquiries: Dhiren Naidoo. Industry Manager, Primaries & Metal, Endress+Hauser. Email dhiren.naidoo@za.endress.com

Electricity + Control

MAY 2018

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