47 / 108
Doing away with expensive wiring
Running long spans of wire outdoors at a
cement plant is often unfeasible and impractical.
The cost of installing hundreds if not thousands
of feet of wire and the poles to support it cannot
be easily justified. In many cases, wiring has
prevented a cement plant from becoming ‘a
connected plant.’ This causes plant personnel to
be disconnected from their inventory.
Wireless devices are the missing link between
sensors and the software that connects workers
with data to do their jobs better. The advent
and proliferation of wireless technology is
changing the landscape at cement plants in
North America.
Wireless bridges and gateways are very
reliable in getting data from point A to point B.
They are now more robust and durable for
outdoor environments making them suitable
for use in cement plants. At the same time,
the price of these devices has come down
significantly – making a connected plant
affordable. They also reduce installation costs to
just a fraction of the cost of hard wiring.
Wireless systems are configured for
point-to-point or point-to-multipoint use
depending on the number of silos and whether
an analog, digital, or Modbus signal needs to
be transmitted. Data can be transmitted up
to one-mile line-of-sight and extended further
using wireless repeaters. Repeaters can also be
used to route a signal around obstructions such
as buildings or rugged terrain. Base stations
can accommodate a large number of sensors
using a variety of inputs, outputs, and relays
customised to a site’s level sensing equipment.
Gateways combine the functions of a wireless
access point, modem, and a router in one
convenient device. They are used to flow data
seamlessly from level sensors to software
for on-site and remote monitoring of silo
inventory. They utilise ethernet, Wi-Fi or cellular
connectivity to get data to a PLC, software, or
web application.
Accessing inventory on a phone
If there is one thing that almost every employee
at a cement plant has in common, it is a
cell phone. Currently, 96% of adults in the
United States have a cell phone with 81% of
these adults owning a smartphone. The cell
phone is the device relied upon for almost
everything personal and professional. According
to the Pew Research Centre, only 10% of
Americans don’t use the internet. The 90% who
do expect it to make their lives easier.
That goes for both at home and on
the job. Software as a Service (Saas)
subscriptions now proliferate most industrial
businesses. They are used for everything