Wireless Communications in Hazardous Areas - Special Antennas

Industrial wireless communications in hazardous areas is
made possible by the Analynk CTM and CTX series antennas.

Wireless communication has seen increasing prevalence in the industrial process measurement and control field for a number of years. Many industrial process control operations can benefit from wireless connections between measurement and control devices. The absence of cables saves space, reduces potential for damage, and simplifies modifications to the process equipment layout. Implementing wireless communications in hazardous areas, whether through WiFi or other radio frequency channels, presents a particular set of challenges to successful implementation. Points of network access and other transmission and receiving equipment can require a level of isolation and hardening appropriate for the hazardous environment. Vendors, in response to customers' desire to incorporate the technology across an ever widening array of application scenarios, continue to develop and release new products and technologies that expand the potential for industrial wireless communication. Analynk Wireless, is now shipping the latest version of their patented wireless antenna for hazardous areas.

The newest Analynk Hazardous Area Antenna provides remote data links for customers using 900MHz, 2.4GHz, Cellular, GPS, Iridium, GLONASS and dual bands. The Analynk antennas are operable across a very wide temperature range and provide substantial impact resistance, signal output, and third party ratings for hazardous environments. These rugged antennas are intended for global application in the industrial process control field. Analynk hazardous area antennas are UL listed for Class 1, Groups C & D and have ATEX/IECEx Certification. The company's entire line of hazardous area antenna products are RoHS compliant and carry a NEMA 4X rating.

Analynk Wireless provides patented hazardous area explosion proof antennas for industrial installations. Their CTX and CTM series antennas carry an array of third party approvals and are suitable for use in a broad range of hazardous environments. Models can accommodate WiFi and other RF communications across frequency bands commonly utilized in industrial settings, as well as cellular and satellite communications.

Share your industrial wireless connectivity challenges with the experts at Analynk, combining your own knowledge and experience with their expertise to develop effective solutions.

Industrial Wireless Communications - Hazardous Area Antennas from Analynk Wireless, LLC

Custom RF Cables Can Speed Your Wireless Installation

Custom RF cables speed installation of industrial
wireless gear.

Upgrading or installing new process instrumentation often requires some level of specialty work that can extend beyond the normal scope of activities performed by in-house technicians. With some planning and smart outsourcing, many gaps in your own capabilities can be filled and expeditious progress made toward the end goal.

Industrial wireless gear will utilize a special cable to connect a remotely located antenna to a receiver or transmitter. Analynk Wireless, as a complement to their line of wireless transmitters, receivers, antennas, and related equipment, custom fabricates RF cables to help provide a complete installation package for their customers and enable the use of fewer source vendors. Any application can be accommodated, and design and planning assistance is available.

Share your wireless connectivity challenges with the experts at Analynk. Leverage your own process knowledge and experience with their product application expertise to develop an effective solution.

Video From Analynk Wireless

Analynk Wireless manufactures equipment used to establish wireless connections among process measurement and control devices. Receivers, transmitters,repeaters, antennas, and other devices can be used to easily establish connections between standard industrial process control instrumentation. Single and multiple point installations can be accommodated. Analynk also provides wireless access point enclosures and antennas for hazardous locations.

Analynk gear enables customers to create wireless connections across the room, across the street, and across the globe. Share your wireless connection ideas and challenges with the experts at Analynk. The combination of your process knowledge and their wireless communication expertise will lead to an effective solution.

Refractometry Applications in Industry

In-line refractometer for industrial processing
Courtesy Electron Machine

Refractometry, a combination of physics, materials, and chemistry, is the process which measures the composition of known substances by means of calculating their respective refractive indexes (RI). RIs are evaluated via a refractometer, a device which measures the curve, or refraction, resulting when the wavelength of light moves from the air into and through a tested substance. The unitless number given by the refractometer, usually between 1.3000 and 1.7000, is the RI. The composition of substances is then determined when the RI is compared to a standard curve specific to the material of the substance. There are also four separate types of refractometers: digital, analog, lab, and inline process. Although refractometry can measure a variety of substances, including gases and solids, the most common category of known substances to calculate are liquids; the inline process refractometer is used to quantify the makeup of liquids.

The ultimate focus of industrial refractometry is to describe what is in a final product or output of a process step. A field which relies directly on the results of refractometry is gemology. Gemological refractometry is crucial for accurately identifying the gemstones being classified, whether the gemstones are opaque, transparent, or translucent.

Other common examples of industrial refractometry uses are measuring the salinity of water to determine drinkability; figuring beverages’ ratios of sugar content versus other sweeteners or water; setting eye-glass prescriptions; understanding the hydrocarbon content of motor fuels; totaling plasma protein in blood samples; and quantifying the concentration of maple syrup. Regarding fuels, refractometry scrutinizes the possible output of energy and conductivity, and for drug-testing purposes, refractometry measures the specific gravity, or the density, of human urine. Regarding food, refractometry has the ability to measure the glucose in fruit during the fermentation process. Because of this, those in food services know when fruit is at peak ripeness and, in turn, also understand the most advantageous point in the fruit’s “lifetime” to put it on the market.

The determination of the substance composition of the product examples listed above all speak to the purpose of quality control and the upholding of standardized guidelines; consumers rely on manufacturers not only to produce these products but also to produce these products consistently and identically every single time. Therefore, the success of commercialism, etc. is dependent on maintaining the standards for the composition of substances, i.e. industrial refractometry.

Equipment manufacturers have developed numerous refractometer configurations tailored to specific use and application. Each has a set of features making it the advantageous choice for its intended application. Product specialists can be invaluable sources of information and assistance to potential refractometer users seeking to match the best equipment to their application or process.

Analynk manufactures wireless communications equipment to connect process measurement instruments with remotely located process monitors and controllers. Their products enable customers to make connections across the room, across the plant, across the highway, and around the globe.

Specialty Valve for Transmitter Isolation

Transmitter Isolation Valve
Courtesy PBM Valve Solutions

Fluid process control applications frequently employ tanks and vessels as part of the processing chain or for storage and holding. Level transmitters can be installed on the tank to provide indication of liquid level. While there are numerous combinations of fittings and valves that could be used to mount and connect the transmitter to the tank, one manufacturer, PBM Valve Solutions, has designed a specialized valve intended to mate a transmitter to a tank fitting with great advantage.

The specialized transmitter isolation valve minimizes dead space to prevent media residue buildup. It can be configured to accommodate CIP and drainage without process interruption. Calibration ports and industry standard mountings allow for broad application throughout the fluid process control industries.

Establishing a connection between the transmitter and its associated monitoring or control equipment is a specialty of Analynk Wireless. Analynk provides end to end solutions for delivering transmitter signals using wireless communications that can span across the room or around the globe. Reach out to Analynk for effective and easy to implement wireless solutions.

Wireless Communications for Industrial Automation Continues to Expand Because It Performs

Wireless communications capabilities for process control
extend beyond WiFi

Wireless connection between a sensor and control or monitoring station is not new anymore. Products have matured, familiarity with the technology is widespread. Certainly, there are still large swaths of industrial installations that do not utilize the technology. This can be for any number or reasons, but new industrial technology tends to follow a predictable course throughout its adoption. There will be innovators and early adopters that can justify higher risks with the prospect of great returns. Many industries and companies will wait until perceived technological difficulties with implementation are overcome and products become more mainstream and easy to apply. That is where industrial wireless is today. Assembling complete working systems is a straight forward operation. Costs are comparatively modest. It's easier to visualize a payback.

Let's review some of the benefits a wireless installation can bring.

• Safety: Wireless connections can reduce personnel exposure to hazardous environments or situations that previously required human intervention or a manual gauge or instrument reading.
• Easy Scale-up: Adding points on a network is generally a simple incremental process.
• Operational Advantage: When deployed to replace manual instrument or gauge readings, real time data for diagnostics and efficiency measurements are now available. Information that is more accurate, timely, and consistent will produce better results.
• Installation Savings: Installation of wireless connected assets has been reported to be up to 10 times less expensive than wired installation. The reduced space and planning for cables and conduit can make what were once complex and time consuming operations much quicker and easier.
• Mobility: Wireless technology allows for real time connections to mobile platforms. Whether within a plant, on the road, or on the high seas, there are wireless products that can make the connection.
• Distance: Don't just think WiFi, think radio, think satellite, think cellular. Connections can be established across very long distances using standard products from the industry.
• Conversion of Legacy Devices: Many existing in-place devices can have their wired connections replaced with a wireless version. This accommodates a staged transition from wired to wireless in facility.

Analynk Wireless manufactures a broad range of wireless communications equipment for industrial process control and automation. Share your wireless connection challenges and ideas with the experts at Analynk and start benefiting from the technology. It's not new anymore. It's mainstream.

Hazardous Area Wireless Equipment Enclosures Ease the Path to Implementation

Analynk hazardous area wireless equipment enclosures
are preconfigured for antenna connection.

Extending or establishing wireless connections in hazardous industrial environments presents a unique set of challenges. The equipment must be housed in an enclosure appropriately rated for the environment. Additionally, the antenna must extend outside the hazardous area rated equipment enclosure in order to properly function. The antenna must also carry a suitable rating for the hazardous area and provide an approved mating to the enclosure to preserve the safety integrity of the installation.

Analynk Wireless, innovators in the industrial wireless arena, provide a series of enclosures suitable for Class 1 Division 1 Groups C&D locations, as well as Class 1 Zone 1 applications. The enclosures are preconfigured to accommodate Analynk's hazardous area antenna, which provides access to a range of frequencies that include radio, cellular, and satellite communications.

The company also provides hazardous area rated enclosures for many popular industrial WiFi access points, preconfigured with antennas, equipment mounting bracket, and connection cables.

Share your industrial wireless communications challenges with the experts at Analynk Wireless. Combining your process expertise with their knowledge of wireless communications will produce the best solution.

Hazardous Area Wireless Equipment Enclosures from Analynk Wireless, LLC

Analynk Wireless and the Offshore Technology Conference 2016

Offshore Technology Conference 2016 brings together
participants in all sectors of the energy sector

Analynk Wireless will be exhibiting their full line of products May 2-5 2016 at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, Texas USA. OTC 2016 brings together professionals and vendors from all sectors of the energy industry, providing attendees access to leading-edge technical information, the industry’s largest equipment exhibition, and unrivaled opportunities for networking and the exchange of ideas and opinions. Analynk will be showcasing their wireless communication products that enable connections across the room or across the globe. Be sure and stop at their exhibit in booth 9056 and see how simply and effectively your wireless industrial process control and monitoring connections can be put into operation.

Learn more about the conference and register at the event website. 

Analynk Wireless is an innovative designer and supplier of wireless instrumentation for the process control industry, with products suitable for hazardous and non-hazardous locations. Transmitters, repeaters, receivers, and hazardous area antennas are available for 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, cellular, GLONASS, GPS, and Iridium based communication of process signals.

Process Monitoring and Control - Where You Can Make Good Use of Wireless

Analynk empowers industrial process operators at any scale to bring the functional benefits of industrial wireless communication to their applications. The company provides easy to implement wireless hardware solutions that can be economically applied to even as single data point.

Talk a look at our short video for some application suggestions. Ramp up your ingenuity and develop ideas for your facility or operation. Contact the experts at Analynk for solutions. We enjoy hearing new and creative ideas for meeting process control challenges with wireless.

Industrial Wireless Communications - Think About Where You Can Use It

Wireless communications applications with beneficial impact
are everywhere, Imaginative thinking is needed.

Analynk builds equipment that empowers anyone with an industrial process control application to make signal connections from sensors to controllers or recorders over distances not practically cabled. The cost and available scale of this technology has reached a level where smaller companies can incorporate it into their operations to increase functionality and efficiency. If you have not done so already, it is time to become familiar with the application basics of this technology and start evaluating your operations for ways to beneficially use industrial wireless communications.

In a simplified fashion, here is how you do it.

• Identify what you want to measure. Typical examples include temperature, pressure, contact closure, or anything else for which a sensing or detecting device is available.
• Find the device most suited for your measurement. It will be convenient to use a device providing a commonly used output signal. Examples include 4-20 ma, 0-5 VDC, and others.
• Select the communications band that best suits your application. Short distances, up to several miles, often use 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz. You can also use the cellular network or one of several satellite networks for extended coverage.
• Select a compatible transmitter, like those from Analynk, to convert the sensor output signal into digital form and transmit it across the network.
• Select a compatible receiver, also available from Analynk, to receive the transmitted signal and convert it back into the original signal form. This output signal will connect to your control or monitoring equipment.
• If you need to send a responding control signal back to the remote location, follow the same plan with the transmission and receiving equipment reversed.

The first time you do it, there will be some things to learn, progress may be a little slow. Once your first attempt is completed, you will understand what needs to be done and further implementation will proceed quickly. There are uncountable applications for this technology that can enable your organization to increase effectiveness, broaden the scope of your operation or service offering, and build a more efficient process. Data points that were previously out of reach are now accessible in real time. Knowing the capabilities of industrial wireless will enable you to recognize useful applications throughout your organization.

You can always contact the specialists at Analynk Wireless to discuss your potential applications. They will help you meet application challenges and get connected.

Connecting With Remote Oil Field Installations

Wireless communications can connect remote oil field
equipment monitoring to a central control point

Oil is sought all across the globe, from the tropics to the Arctic. It is the king of commodities, chattered about endlessly on news channels and touching facets of our lives without our ever being aware. Oil is big and serious business, with tremendous sums of money at risk on the prospect of reaping even greater returns.

Like all raw materials derived from the Earth, oil is often discovered in very remote areas with no transportation, communication, or other infrastructure nearby. It is common for producing wells to operate unattended, which saves cost and increases operational risk due to failure or malfunction that may occur on the site. Maintaining efficient and safe operation at the site is not a luxury, but a necessity. Delivering real time data from remote sites to monitoring and decision making centers is crucial to achieving profitable and safe operation at remote sites.

Analynk manufactures transmission and receiving equipment that builds the bridge between remote sites and the home office. From elemental componentry to integrated, ready to run systems, Analynk specializes in wireless communications for industrial process control. Contact us with your wireless challenges. Whether an expansive multipoint, or a single point application, the specialists at Analynk can combine standard or customized products into a practical solution for you.

Outlook for 2016

At Analynk, we are wrapping up a very good year, and extend our sincere thanks to our customers, vendors, and others that have supported our continued growth and success in the industrial wireless communications field.

We brought several new products to the market this year, including some new versions of the Hazardous Area Wireless Access Point Enclosure and our patented Explosion Proof Antenna. The coming months will see the release of some new products we have been working on this past year. Stay connected with us and you will be among the first to know about them.

We hope your year was as good as ours, and wish everyone a safe and happy holiday and prosperous New Year.