Considering the different hazards and perils employees for chemical companies deal with in the workplace on a daily basis, safety is obviously one of the top priorities at these facilities. Chemical companies must make essential investments in the right equipment and other accessories. Nowadays, systems, equipment, and other means of technological assistance available to chemical companies have become more sophisticated.
For more than 85 years, rupture disks (also known as bursting disks) have been effective and cost-efficient as passive safety mechanisms for protecting tanks and other enclosed vessels against overpressures and potentially damaging vacuums. To meet demands for a new generation of smaller, lighter applications, and materials to overcome an array of engineering-related feats. Rupture disks protect a system or equipment by rupturing when vacuum or over-pressurized conditions manifest. Workers become aware of an issue only if they hear the rupture disk burst. Considering how there’s always a chance the disk burst won’t be heard, this dependence on human action isn’t particularly reliable.
As time passed, notification solutions were developed to notify employees the second an issue occurred. Despite the immense benefits offered, traditional models meant massive investment and maintenance costs that derived from the convoluted wiring needed for operating. Such advances in wireless capabilities indicates similar means can be incorporated into burst detection systems.
Manufacturers of rupture disks began offering wireless HART (Highway Addressable Remote Transducer Protocol) as one of the first wireless burst detection system models. The system doesn’t use complicated wiring systems, which makes for easy installation into new and existing sites. While these systems offer associated cost-savings around 50 percent, installation time for these wireless rupture detection systems are 90 percent quicker than traditional models.
Many businesses have begun reaping the benefits from these systems. Thomas Swan for example, is a UK-based independent manufacturer of performance and specialty chemicals that installed these wireless solutions for its rupture disk devices. Their systems enabled smooth integrations of its wireless burst detection systems into their site infrastructure.
“Being able to integrate rupture disk monitoring into our existing wireless network has offered significant benefits to our plant,” says John Smithson, a Thomas Swan maintenance manager. “The setup and installation process was seamless, and I have been impressed by all aspects of the product and its ongoing reliability.”
Considering how time is an essential factor in this particular industry, these technological developments are paramount to both increasing safety without disrupting business productivity, and maintaining efficiency throughout the workplace without imposing any overly cumbersome conditions.
Filed Under: M2M (machine to machine)
