How Smart Meter Technology Makes the Life of a Plant Maintenance Manager Easier

by | Mar 23, 2018 | Flow, Measurement Instrumentation

Taylor Scott

Taylor Scott

Software Product Specialist

Flow Meter Maintenance Today

It’s not surprising that today’s plant maintenance managers might be prone to the odd sleepless night! While Coriolis meters have more than demonstrated their ability to deliver accurate measurements in demanding process conditions – abrasive slurries or corrosive chemicals, for example – and their lack of moving parts and non-intrusive design have undoubtedly made the maintenance manager’s job easier, the role is not without stress and unwelcome surprises.

For example, in instances such as corrosion, over-pressurization, freezing or coating, the maintenance manager has little option but to remove meters and halt production for further inspection. You can imagine how well that goes down with plant managers facing cost pressures and ambitious output targets!
In addition, there is also the need for periodic maintenance checks in order to ensure safety standards, ISO 9001 compliance and correct regulatory reporting – even if the meters are operating perfectly well anyway.

And the ongoing maintenance of such flow meters and measurement data quality is even more critical when customers are implementing ‘big data’ analytics initiatives.
In such cases, maintaining and verifying meters becomes a data quality check, with analytical models only as good as the data being fed to them and significant repercussions if they get it wrong.

Plant Maintenance & Smart Meter Verification Diagnostics

It’s against this context that’s Emerson’s advanced Smart Meter Verification (SMV) diagnostics represents such a step-change in flow meter maintenance today.

Rather than costly and time-consuming maintenance and laboratory testing, leading to production interruptions and a lack of data for weeks, the advanced Smart Meter Verification provides Coriolis meter verification on-demand and while installed. Coriolis meter verification also generates a report in less than two minutes without impact on process or meter outputs.

Let’s take a look at one issue that keeps the maintenance manager awake at night – coating, or build-up.

Coating – whether it be due to fluid composition or temperature fluctuations – and its impact on meter performance represents a clear and present danger to maintenance managers today. Often maintenance managers are only aware of it when density measurements are affected, when running clean in place (CIP) cycles, or when the meters fail a proving.

On the other hand, with the proactive diagnostics of the Smart Meter Verification, maintenance managers can get ahead of the process by detecting the first signs of coating before a proving and then triggering hot oil or cleaning cycles. New statistical algorithms and the degree of flow tube stiffness can also detect corrosion at an early stage and vital variables, such as mass flow and temperature measurements can be verified as well.

The Future of Plant Maintenance with Smart Meter Technology

An advancement in the role of the maintenance manager and a less stressful existence is long overdue. Advancements in Coriolis Smart Meter Verification diagnostics has gone a long way towards achieving this.

To access a recording of our recent webinar on Smart Meter Verification, please click here. Our next blog will look at how the Smart Meter Verification is ushering in a new era of localized intelligence within the process plant.

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The opinions expressed here are the personal opinions of the authors. Content published here is not read or approved by Emerson before it is posted and does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Emerson.

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