Remote Monitoring of Equipment

Operation of any oil or gas site require a ton of equipment and the complexity increases when these equipment are supposed to be handled. Dangerous chemicals and difficult manual operation can make it fairly difficult for the operators to manage the equipment. But, in the recent time, more companies are preferring use of remote monitoring, where critical data is transmitted in a reliable way and in real time.

Equipment Which Use Remote Monitoring

If remote monitoring is properly utilized, it can help in optimizing productivity and profitability. Some equipment using remote monitoring includes :

• Tanks and Pumps: There are about 700,000 petroleum Industrial Pumps in USA. Tanks always carry the risks of leakage, overflow or spilling, which if happens can cause great environmental damage, plus the owners would also be subjected to regulatory fines. But tanks and pumps like

Commercial Gas Pumps can be monitored in a very dependable way to avoid these major problems. There are level sensors that can warn the owners when the content of a tank has reached a high level and needs to be emptied. They can also detect corrosion and check for leakage in the pump or tank.

• Compressors: Uninterrupted operation of compressors is vital as a failure can lead to lost production of thousands of dollars. Many a times, this failure goes undetected unless someone actually checks at the site. Remote monitoring of compressors ensures that they are working at peak capacity and also provides pressure and temperature readings for managing production and schedule.
• Rectifiers: They are majorly used in cathode protection system for equipment like tanks and pipelines by sending a current through exterior of pipe to keep it from corroding. The current and the voltage sent by these rectifiers are monitored to lengthen the pipe and reduce the chance of leakages in the pipe. Before this, operators were present at the site physically mea using the readings, increasing the danger. Remote monitoring can also be used to create auditable record data of the pipeline health.

A good quality monitoring solution is able to address all the needs of a company by giving the complete monitoring without minding the location of the environment, while also providing a cost effective solution. Automated remote monitoring can help in providing proper timely notification regarding to and equipment issue to the owner. The best remote monitoring system should be able to function in multiple communication modes and back-up monitoring in case of primary failure.

AvaLAN Wireless is a manufacturer of Wireless Networking Products.