Remote Monitoring of Valve Position

Battery powered industrial wireless transmitter
factory installed in hazardous area rated enclosure
with hazardous area rated antenna.

The use of a centralized control or monitoring station is prevalent throughout many industrial applications. Employing a single location as collector and processor of all available information has operational advantages. 

Operations with control valves installed at remote locations face the challenge of determining whether the valve is responding properly to control commands or the demands of the process. Older systems, and some not so old systems as well, may have in-place valves that do not provide a confirmation signal of valve position. Many products are available for retrofitting this capability to a wide range of existing valves, but the challenge of delivering the valve position signal to the control center remains. It is unlikely that spare signal cable conductors were installed at the time of valve installation, so there are two clear options.

• Install signal cable from the valve position indicator to the control center.
• Install a wireless signal transmission system for the valve position indicator.

Unless the valve is located very close to the control center, the wireless option offers a more simple and cost effective method of connecting the valve position transmitter with the control center. Here are the basic tasks.

• Install transmitter at valve location in a suitable enclosure.
• Provide power to radio transmitter. Almost any power source can be accommodated. Power consumption is low enough to allow the use of a small solar panel and battery arrangement, if needed.
• Connect the valve position transmitter output to the radio transmitter input.
• Install a companion radio receiver at the control center, or where a wired signal can be routed easily to the control center. Provide a suitable enclosure.
• Provide power to the receiver, using any of the options available for the radio transmitter described previously.
• Connect the output of the radio receiver to an appropriate input on the central control system.
• Set the communications channels on the radio transmitter and receiver.
• Power up the system.

The transmitter digitizes and encrypts the input signal from the valve position indicator, then transmits the data via 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz to the receiver. The receiver decrypts the data and mirrors the signal that was delivered by the valve position indicator to the radio transmitter. 

This is a simplified illustration, but the implementation of a wireless connection between process components, even with all the details, is not difficult. Transmitters and receivers can be ordered pre-configured, wired, and installed in a specified enclosure, requiring comparatively little field labor. Analynk welcomes customized application challenges and your questions about how to utilize wireless connections in your operation. 

Analynk Wireless manufactures equipment used to establish wireless process connections across the room, across the plant site, across the highway, and around the globe.