{"id":386,"date":"2019-03-29T08:13:34","date_gmt":"2019-03-29T08:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tce.co.in\/blogs\/?p=386"},"modified":"2021-09-28T11:27:14","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T11:27:14","slug":"futuristic-perspective-for-remote-monitoring-and-preventive-maintenance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tataconsultingengineers.com\/blogs\/futuristic-perspective-for-remote-monitoring-and-preventive-maintenance\/","title":{"rendered":"Futuristic Perspective For Remote Monitoring And Preventive Maintenance."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>1. Synopsis<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Evolving aspirations and needs of general public is compelling development of new age infrastructure<br \/>\nwherein \u201cSmart\u201d is an all pervasive expression. In all sectors \u2013 be it Energy, Infra , Petrochemical,<br \/>\ntelecom or manufacturing, elements such as Internet, IOT, IIOT, Automation and Analytics , Big data,<br \/>\npredictive analysis are a part of evolving smart systems.<\/p>\n<p>Remote connectivity in plants is thinkable when all plant systems are fortified with smart sensors and<br \/>\nrobust control systems collecting huge amounts of real time plant data, enabling remote monitoring.<br \/>\nDepending on multiple factors like plant sector, control system configuration, etc. &#8211; decisions are made<br \/>\nto connect remotely for either control or only for the purpose of monitoring the plants.<\/p>\n<p>Technology for remote monitoring has matured with sophistication by leaps and bounds over the last<br \/>\nfew decades with advancement of high speed internet and availability of cost-effective smart<br \/>\nsensors\/devices. This has enhanced the anticipation of plant engineers to prefer to look at the plant<br \/>\nprocess parameters through localized plant control systems in real time from any part of the globe.<\/p>\n<p>Current trend in technology evolution proclaims remote monitoring of plants wherein availability of<br \/>\nplant data is imperative. Data availability enables remote monitoring and control as coined by the<br \/>\nmetaphor \u201cinformation is power\u201d cycling around the globe. Further to data collection and consolidation,<br \/>\nsuperior expert predictive analysis and optimisation improves plant availability, whilst empowering plant<br \/>\noperator with work-life balance, also upholding plant productivity and safety.<\/p>\n<p>There are numerous models available in the market with minor variations and advantages to suit plant<br \/>\nOwner requirements. Remote monitoring of plants could be based on unique models described herein:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Model 1: Owner monitors various capacity \/ fuel power plants located at different<br \/>\nlocations from a centralized single location power center.<\/li>\n<li>Model 2: Engineering, procurement and construction contractor (EPC) firms monitor<br \/>\nthe contracted multiple capacity power plants at different locations from a single EPC<br \/>\ncommand center.<\/li>\n<li>Model 3: Multiple Original equipment manufacturers (OEM\u2019s) monitor plant\u2019s critical<br \/>\nsystems like Distributed Control System, PLC and Vibration system for healthiness of<br \/>\ntheir respective system on real time basis.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>2. Insight<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Desire to improve efficiency of industrial sector through detail insights have led to \u201cIndustrial Internet of<br \/>\nThings (IIOT)\u201d \u2013 a technological revolution which is a significant driving force for advancement of plant<br \/>\ndigitization.<\/p>\n<p>In a plant, sensors providing information and alarms of all plant operations are available for operator<br \/>\nview; however, plant operator can view only a part of them and may miss important data that could<br \/>\nhelp plant performance and maintenance planning. Large volume of data can create information<br \/>\noverload and as ageing workforce with vast experience retire, tacit knowledge on plant operation and\u00a0\u00a0optimization decamps with them. With plant owners exploring ways to fill this knowledge gap &#8211; one of\u00a0the possible solutions is remote monitoring enabling utilization of benefits of vast experience of\u00a0available subject matter experts.<\/p>\n<p>Objectives of remote surveillance and monitoring include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Continuous monitoring of all data related to health and performance of major<br \/>\nequipment of the plants.<\/li>\n<li>Analysis and assessment of major equipment operating conditions to reduce<br \/>\noperational risks of unwarranted schedule interruption or increased maintenance.<\/li>\n<li>Analysis of data and review of alarms to identify and give advance warnings of incipient<br \/>\nfailure mode and impending equipment problems preventing outages and catastrophic<br \/>\nfailures.<\/li>\n<li>Use of latest smart analytics, algorithms, decision making tools and patterns recognition<br \/>\ntogether with performance assessment.<\/li>\n<li>Support generating plant with expert advice on equipment performance, health issues<br \/>\nrelated to optimization.<\/li>\n<li>Review maintenance\/shutdown schedule along with inventory management planning.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Brief description of remote monitoring Models<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Model 1: Owner monitors<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Many public\/ private utilities have multiple plants located in different locations.<\/p>\n<p>Ten years ago, collection of important data pertaining to productivity, loss etc. and presenting the same<br \/>\nin a concise manner as required by top management began to be termed as management information<br \/>\nsystem \u2018MIS\u2019. However, in recent years &#8211; steadfast growth of internet and data analytic programs have<br \/>\nled to Owner\u2019s remote monitoring and diagnostics service centers to monitor their own operating<br \/>\nplants. These Centers have plentiful vital requisite software related to data analysis and diagnostic<br \/>\nfunctionalities interfaced with data servers for real time and historical data availability.<\/p>\n<p>This center is managed by a set of experts in plant operation or\/and maintenance domain. These<br \/>\npersonnel may also request assistance from respective OEM, when the needs arise. With this model,<br \/>\ninstead of having multiple manpower to monitor plants at respective location, a central command and<br \/>\ncontrol center with few subject matter experts is created to ensure effective remote monitoring, also<br \/>\nproviding solution to the plant operational and maintenance issues surfaced proactively preventing a<br \/>\ncatastrophe or probable major plant shutdown.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Model 2: EPC monitors<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This applies to EPC\u2019s who have supplied equipment to the Plant and are responsible for construction,<br \/>\nerection and commissioning of the plant.<\/p>\n<p>Few EPC suppliers have set up 24X7 remote services center. These centers are set up with an intention<br \/>\nof providing customers around the world with field knowledge and experience accumulated from<br \/>\nanalysis of data obtained from various plants. These centers collect and analyze data obtained from<br \/>\noperating plants to provide considered opinion on the predictive maintenance requirements.<\/p>\n<p>The analysis of data finds the root cause for any estimated occurrence of abnormality along with an<br \/>\noptimized action plan for avoidance of the same.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Model 3: OEM monitors<\/strong><\/p>\n<pre>{Remote monitoring of critical systems like Distributed control system(DCS), Programmable logic controllers(PLC),\r\nSupervisory control and Data acquisition system(SCADA), Vibration system(VMS) for rotating equipment}\r\n\r\n<\/pre>\n<p>This approach involves availability of monitoring and diagnostics center for critical equipment such as<br \/>\nDCS, PLC, SCADA, VMS etc. at OEM\u2019s works. Generally, these systems are proprietary in nature and<br \/>\nOEM\u2019s have the complete know-how of equipment supplied in terms of design, performance,<br \/>\nmalfunction modes, diagnostics, and predictive maintenance.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the plant owners need experts for trouble shooting problems in DCS, PLC\u2019s, SCADA, Rotating<br \/>\nmachines etc., in addition to their own skilled plant personnel and therefore get into long term<br \/>\nmaintenance service agreements with OEM\u2019s. To ensure OEM expert monitoring and guidance, plants<br \/>\nare remotely connected to OEM\u2019s terminal and required real time data is collected at OEM\u2019s service<br \/>\ncenter. With expertise built into their own diagnostic software by OEM\u2019s, immediate detection of<br \/>\nmalfunction is possible from online real-time data collection and analysis in addition to predictive<br \/>\ncorrective actions (if not taken care of). OEM centers facilitate plant operations with their right<br \/>\nexpertise at right time through prioritized notification at client sites through remote monitoring support<br \/>\n&#8211; further reducing average downtime, enhancing machine reliability and ensuring lower maintenance<br \/>\ncosts.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier OEMs would tend to provide \u201cTwo pass repairs\u201d, i.e., first inspection visit to identify and access<br \/>\nparts and collect data, followed by root cause analysis and suggestions for repair. However, with<br \/>\nremote asset health monitoring using IIOT &amp; analytics, OEM\u2019s get advance alarms and plan for zero<br \/>\ndowntime maintenance. This also enables best practice sharing across their equipment at different sites<br \/>\nand lessons learnt from one site may be useful for avoidance of a similar problem at another site located<br \/>\nin an entirely different geography. With the above benefits, OEM\u2019s have huge opportunity to make<br \/>\nmaintenance a profitable business by remotely monitoring their equipment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Benefits<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As stated above &#8211; with emerging technologies such as IOT and analytics, IIOT; concept of remote<br \/>\nmonitoring of plants would be embraced by most customers in the near future. In the earlier section,<br \/>\ndifferent models to remotely monitor plants have been discussed. Each one of these approaches has<br \/>\ntheir own benefits. Depending on the plant and the plant owner\u2019s choice, one of 3 models can be<br \/>\nadopted.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Benefits of each approach:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Model 1<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>These companies are already existing firms\/utilities having a large base of generating plants spread over<br \/>\ndifferent locations with in-house monitoring cells in each location. Now they are shifting to a centralized<br \/>\nlocation and with the help of few experts monitoring multiple plants at various locations, advise local<br \/>\noperators on various issues such as performance improvements and predictive maintenance. Domain<br \/>\nknowledge of plant is retained within the organization in this model.<\/p>\n<p>However, though performance and health monitoring of large equipment is possible- due to lack of indepth<br \/>\nknowledge of OEM practices, assistance of OEM\u2019s may be required.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Model 2<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This model is applicable to EPC\u2019s who have engineered and supplied complete equipment for the plant.<br \/>\nEPC\u2019s could depend on OEM\u2019s in this model. OEMs with availability of in-house expertise, using remote<br \/>\nmonitoring facility and smart analytics, provide advance warning and maintenance services during<br \/>\nplanned downtime. This approach is effective in the power industry and is now being utilized in wind<br \/>\nsector. This approach is useful for customers who do not have necessary expertise and prefer single<br \/>\npoint for maintenance support.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Model 3<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This approach is active in plants with large critical equipment. In power plants, proprietary equipment<br \/>\nsuch as DCS, PLC, Pumps, compressors need specialists to monitor and diagnose equipment operation<br \/>\nand maintenance problems. These systems \/ equipment can be remotely monitored by respective<br \/>\nOEM\u2019s on long term service contract. In this model, monitoring of equipment along with spare<br \/>\ninventory shall be OEM\u2019s responsibility. This is an effective and popular model for both OEMs and<br \/>\nplant owners.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5. Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Conclusion of this study catalogues utilization of remote surveillance integrated automation in all<br \/>\nsectors with specific fact based references in energy sector as listed below:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Owners should begin IIOT adoption for their new procurements<\/li>\n<li>Three important advantages from remote monitoring of plants are faster resolution<br \/>\nwith improved efficiency, proactive maintenance, valuable insights based on the<br \/>\navailable expertise.<\/li>\n<li>Remote monitoring and diagnostics is suitable for adoption in renewable energy sector<br \/>\nincluding solar plants, wind turbines and mini-hydro plants.<\/li>\n<li>With availability of domain experts becoming scarce, remote monitoring tools and<br \/>\ndiagnostics centers is the only solution way forward. Optimal solutions are provided<br \/>\nwithout visiting the sites to the extent possible.<\/li>\n<li>Remote monitoring has potential for tremendous growth in energy sector with<br \/>\navailability of intelligent \/ smart maintenance and diagnostic programs providing data<br \/>\nacquisition, analysis, reporting capabilities as well as early detection of impending<br \/>\nfailures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1. Synopsis Evolving aspirations and needs of general public is compelling development of new age infrastructure wherein \u201cSmart\u201d is an all pervasive expression. In all sectors \u2013 be it Energy, Infra , Petrochemical, telecom&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,72,2],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[89,107],"class_list":["post-386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-4-0","category-power","category-technical-papers"],"acf":[],"authors":[{"term_id":89,"user_id":28,"is_guest":0,"slug":"jayprakash","display_name":"K Jayprakash","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99bdac0ab5b3afe9bcfe57e761b730d07674a67dcb4b6aea6be8ffb408d9a18f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","first_name":"K","last_name":"Jayprakash","user_url":"","description":""},{"term_id":107,"user_id":42,"is_guest":0,"slug":"latha-d-s","display_name":"Latha D S","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/99bdac0ab5b3afe9bcfe57e761b730d07674a67dcb4b6aea6be8ffb408d9a18f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","first_name":"Latha","last_name":"D S","user_url":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tataconsultingengineers.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tataconsultingengineers.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tataconsultingengineers.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tataconsultingengineers.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tataconsultingengineers.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.tataconsultingengineers.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":659,"href":"https:\/\/www.tataconsultingengineers.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386\/revisions\/659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tataconsultingengineers.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tataconsultingengineers.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tataconsultingengineers.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tataconsultingengineers.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tataconsultingengineers.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}