The Future of Condition Valve Monitoring
A
ll industrial operations are
continually driving to improve
efficiency and productivity to
increase profit margins and maximise
bottom-line returns. In many sectors
(such as the Oil and Gas Industry), this
drive occurs against a back drop of
heightened health and safety demands
and environmental concerns as well as
the need to implement improvements on
old assets that can often be operating
beyond their initial design life.
An important means of delivering on
these expectations is to reduce the
number of unscheduled plant shutdowns.
On average 92% of shutdowns are
unplanned and cost oil and gas
companies an estimated $42 – 88 million
a year in worst case scenarios. It has
been observed that most unplanned
shutdowns are often attributable to worn
out equipment, and in a lot of cases is
due to the lifespan of an element being
exceeded.
With a routine maintenance schedule
and a condition monitoring solution,
operators could prevent costly shutdowns
and increase production up time, reduce
maintenance spend and improve plant
safety. A study by GE found that data
monitoring helped improve oil and gas
maintenance schedules resulting in a
36% reduction in unplanned downtime,
which in turn resulted in an average of a
$17 million improvement to the bottom
line.
As such, asset monitoring, asset
management, and predictive maintenance
solutions are gaining popularity.
CONDITION MONITORING ON
VALVES
As valves are a critical constituent
element of any flow-based process,
valve performance is an important
factor to review when trying to prevent
unscheduled maintenance, plant shut
downs and loss of batch production.
The immediate effect of valve problems
can then be the failure to meet client
expectations whilst indirect effects may
include higher insurance premiums and
increased HSE scrutiny, meaning that,
valve problems can often be very costly.
Whilst some operators are already
deploying Condition Monitoring on
Control Valves and Critical Valves, many
valves, notably those used for On/Off
process and shutdown applications, are
often left unmonitored.
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area has been limited due to the lack
of a simple, cost effective solution that
allows for automated end-to-end data
acquisition and analysis.
WHY AREN’T VALVES BEING
MONITORED?
Whilst technology is available to
monitor these valves, operators are
dissuaded from this investment
primarily due to the prohibitive
hardware and installations costs.
Although some OEMs have touted
various valve testing and monitoring
systems, many of the solutions offered
can pose operational, financial
and/or functional implementation
issues. This is because they are
generally significantly more costly
than traditional systems; can require
installation of new wiring and hardware
and can have software integration.
Where the automation is of relatively
low value, as is the case with on/
off valves, it can be difficult to justify
the time and money involved with
implementing a useful Condition
Monitoring solution.
If and when Condition Monitoring
systems are installed on automated on/
off valves, they typically require trained
personnel to perform the monitoring
task. However, due to a lack of training,
lack of specific valve knowledge and
insufficient time available, data will
often only be analysed for a small
fraction of automated on/off valves, if
at all.
The result of all these factors is that,
in the current environment, vast
swathes of on/off valves are not
being monitored and subsequently
maintained in a meaningful or useful
way, contributing to a significant
increased risk of valve failures.
INTRODUCING THE VALVE
DIAGNOSTIC MONITORING
SYSTEM
Imtex Controls has been developing
and manufacturing solutions for the
process industries for over 30 years. As
part of this history, Imtex have been
supplying valve monitoring and testing
solutions that are easily implemented
to both new and ageing assets, to
enable operators to log data from shut
down valves for a number of years.
However, it became obvious that whilst
Operators are keen to explore Condition
Monitoring solutions, investment in this
Following experience in data capturing
for critical valves a NEW automated
valve diagnostic monitoring system
(VDMS) has been developed to resolve
all the implementation and investment
issues. By providing seamless
monitoring of automated valves using a
simple but fully integrated, end to end
solution, the system helps to deliver a
safe and more productive plant of the
future.
The component parts of the VDMS
system allows this type of system
to be installed without any extra
cabling, no additional software, and no
change in procedures, all for a similar
cost to a standard valve position
transmitter. This makes VDMS the first
of its kind.
The difference between the VDMS and
other technology available is that it is
easy to install in both green field and
brown field environments with minimal
additional infrastructure requirements,
but allows every valve operation to be
automatically captured, analysed and
acting upon if necessary through a
cloud based diagnostics application.
The system monitors the health of
automated valves through comparative
and real time analysis of every valve
operation with the goal of predicting
time to valve failure. Maintenance
and pro-active interventions can
then be scheduled in advance of any
issues. By cost effectively installing
this technology on all automated
valves, a plant can ensure efficiency
of production, as well as prevent
unscheduled delay and unsafe plant
condition.
This technology is useful for all stages
of plant operation and so can provide
an opportunity to improve efficiency,
safety and security of all plants, existing
and future.
With big data now being recognised
as the future of industrial and
manufacturing processes, it’s
innovations like the VDMS that
can make all the difference to data
aggregation for safety, efficiency and
not least profitability.
www.imtex-controls.com
Pioneering 24/7 IIoT
Valve Health Monitoring
The Imtex Controls Group engineer the best design for your projects,
operations and customers. We are a leading independent producer of
high integrity valve / damper actuation and valve monitoring equipment.
Our product range includes backlash free, Cam Actuators, valve position
monitors for all environments and a market leading IIoT valve health
monitoring system.
To find out more about the future of Valve Health Technology
and increase your production efficiency
please call us on 08700 340 002
or visit our website: www.imtex-controls.com
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