Electricity and Control August 2021

PLANT MAINTENANCE, TEST + MEASUREMENT : PRODUCTS + SERVICES

Analytics software with condition monitoring functions

sound locally and around a facility until the issues have been resolved. Operators near the tanks, as well as those in the control room, are forced by the annunciator to ac­ knowledge and rectify the problem straightaway. Site managers are notified of a potential overfill threat before a compromising event occurs and, importantly, near miss events are detected and logged. For this to be effective, independent limit alarm and level measurement transmitters are placed on each terminal storage tank and hardwired to an annunciator. Each transmitter can provide two contact outputs: a high-level alert to act as a warning before levels reach the urgent and potentially dangerous high-high level alert. The annunciator signals audible and visual alarms to attract the attention of operators. In a facility with upwards of 80 tanks, as at Mombasa, site managers need to be able to determine which tank alarm annunciator is sounding. This is done via the control room where field alarms are also displayed, as well as with GSM-based SMS alerts generated to notify relevant personnel whenever alarms are activated, 24/7. The GSM alert requires an acknowledgement from the recipient, otherwise it escalates the alert to someone else. There are three levels of escalation to ensure efficient action is taken to prevent overfills, even in an unmanned area of the facility. The storage facility in Mombasa is an integral infrastructure asset because it pumps fuel inland through all of Kenya and other areas of East Africa. Burhani’s expertise and suite of measurement instrumentation coupled with Omniflex alarm systems makes the task of managing tank conditions efficient, simple and safe. approvals for repairs or have questions answered, without leaving the field. The Fluke Connect app features EquipmentLog™ records, which let technicians assign measurements to specific equipment, creating a history of test measurement data that helps them identify problems and make better decisions. And TrendIt™ provides for them to translate data into graphs instantly – and share findings, helping to identify trends and supporting informed decisions. Fluke Cloud storage infrastructure is one of the most flexible and secure cloud computing environments avail­ able. The Fluke Cloud storage service provider uses state-of-the-art electronic surveillance, multi-factor access control systems and 24/7 staffing at its data centres. The servers have built-in firewalls, encrypted data storage and secure access specifically designed to protect data. For more information contact Comtest. Tel: +27 (0)10 595 1821 Email: sales@comtest.co.za, visit: www.comtest.co.za For more information contact Omniflex. Tel: +27 (0)31 207 7466 Email: ianl@omniflex.com Visit: www.omniflex.com

The TwinCAT Analytics software from Beckhoff offers a complete workflow – from acquisition of data to its storage and analysis to dashboards for continuous machine monitoring. Traditional condition monitoring algorithms are also available in TwinCAT Analytics, with simple configuration and no programming requirements.

This addition optimises the standard workflow and spontaneous measurements, such as during machine commissioning or service. Beckhoff introduced the TwinCAT ConditionMonitoring library as early as 2010. The library includes numerous algorithms that support Moment Coefficients, Discrete Classification and Vibration Assessment according to the ISO standard, in addition to functions such as Magnitude Spectrum, Envelope Spectrum, Zoom FFT, Power Cepstrum and multiple RMS calculations. All functions are available as standard PLC function blocks. This means condition monitoring functions, for permanent monitoring of bearings or gearboxes, for example, integrate directly and easily into the machine controller. In the past, commissioning staff and service engineers had to invest considerable time and effort to calculate a frequency spectrum that would allow selective inspection of, for instance, machine components. This is where TwinCAT Analytics can help – by reducing a programming task to a simple configuration task. All condition monitoring algorithms are available in the Analytics toolbox and can simply be dragged to the Analytics editor and configured. After using the ‘Start Record’ function, the results are provided at the output of the algorithms, and they can be displayed clearly and graphically in the charting tool based on the interaction between TwinCAT Analytics and TwinCAT Scope View. Machine operators and service engineers then have an easy-to-use solution at their disposal with the TwinCAT Analytics Service Tool (TE3520) and can interpret the clearly presented results. Continuous monitoring with the aid of the condition monitoring algorithms can be configured just as conveniently in the TwinCAT Analytics Workbench (TE3500) and converted automatically into readable PLC code. This code can then be downloaded onto the local machine controller or remote device to perform the necessary calculations in parallel with the machine application. The TwinCAT HMI visualisation solution rounds out the Analytics workflow by automatically creating analytics dashboards.

Powerful condition monitoring algorithms can be integrated easily into TwinCAT Analytics.

For more information contact Beckhoff Automation. Tel: +27 (0)11 795 2898

Email: danep@beckhoff.co.za Visit: www.beckhoff.com/en-za

Electricity + Control AUGUST 2021

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