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Tire manufacturer used wireless technology
to improve output |
Wireless network communication has enjoyed continuously increasing rates of adoption in the industrial process control field for a number of years. Protocols and methodologies are generally well established and a wide range of
products are available, making it less challenging to configure an application solution. As the manufacturers of industrial wireless devices have gained production efficiency and responded to an increasingly competitive market, the cost of implementing a wireless solution has become less of a barrier. Truly, industry is now in a phase where creativity and ingenuity will bring changes to traditional process and production operations to take full advantage of the untethering of many common measurement and control devices.
Traditionally, most measurement and control instrumentation was fixed in place by piping or cabling. While that is still the case throughout much of the industrial sector, opportunities are continuously emerging for wireless technology to provide improvement in performance and efficiency.
I came across an example of how one manufacturer of tubeless tires devised a wireless test station to replace their existing wired version to:
- Reduce maintenance by eliminating signal cables and power cables. No more cable damage from moving wired transmitters around the tire test area.
- Replace manual data logging with remote automatic data logging.
- Maintain or increase the accuracy of each measurement point.
- Allow a single test station to be employed easily at multiple locations throughout the factory.
This was accomplished using readily available pressure transmitters, wireless transmitters, access points, receivers, and related hardware to provide a complete measurement system delivering test and measurement data to a remotely located data logger.
Use your creativity, your ingenuity. Get outside the box and examine your industrial process or production operation. Look for opportunities to sharpen your efficiency and improve outcomes. The prospects are good that there may be more gained from a wireless installation than the mere absence of cabling. Discuss your ideas with a
wireless product manufacturer, solicit their recommendations, and evaluate the potential benefits to your operation.
