Chemical Engineering July 2021 - 11

Newsfront
Temperature Measurement
Gets Smarter and Safer
New innovations in temperature sensors, calibration and associated equipment are helping to
keep plants operating reliably and safely
T
emperature is one of the
most important process parameters
that needs to be
measured and controlled in
the chemical process industries (CPI).
For this reason, vendors are continuously
improving temperature sensors,
transmitters and the associated hardware
and software to ensure accurate
and reliable measurements, while ensuring
safety at the plant. And despite
the analog nature of traditional thermocouples
and resistance-temperature
detectors (RTDs), digitalization
is now " par for the course, " while the
industrial internet of things (IIoT) and
Industry 4.0 trends go hand-in-hand
with making the process and the process
equipment more reliable.
" The major trends in temperature
measurement these last few years
have revolved around safety, digital
transformation and innovation, " says
Kevin Stultz, global product manager
for Emerson's Rosemount Temperature
(St. Louis, Mo.; www.emerson.
com). " New software and digital tools
are becoming more prevalent in the
industry, as customers want more
data on their process and faster
service, this leads to a demand for
reducing complexity and improving
speed of innovation, " he says.
Advances in calibration
Although the characteristics and operation
of traditional thermocouples
and RTDs are well understood, they
still need to be calibrated - not just
the first time after the sensor is made,
but at regular intervals to account
for aging, which can lead to drift. In
some CPI sectors, such as pharmaceuticals,
food and beverages and life
sciences, calibration at regular time intervals
is both standard
and required
by regulation. Because
the sensor
normally needs to
be removed from
the process to be
calibrated, the procedure
is both disruptive
and time
consuming.
" Today, with IIoT,
we get the calibration
data in digital
format - every
number is recorded,
so you can do some cool
analytics, " says Ned Espy, technical
director at Beamex, Inc. (Marietta,
Ga.; www.beamex.com). You can
compare a temperature probe over
time, or compare different probes
with each other over time, explains
Espy. With this information, you might
find that you can extend the time interval
between calibrations, he says.
There is a growing awareness for
data integrity issues and minimizing
human errors, Espy continues. " The
calibration data are recorded as observed,
so there is no human error.
Our system has a high level of automation,
so users can get away from
using paper, " he says.
Introduced in 2019, the Beamex
MC6-T (Figure 1) is a portable, automated
temperature-calibration system
that combines a state-of-the-art temperature
dry-block with the Beamex
MC6 multifunction process calibrator
technology. With the ability to generate
temperature, as well as measure
and simulate temperature and electrical
signals, it offers a unique combination
of functionality, says Espy. MC6-T
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM JULY 2021
Beamex
FIGURE 1. The Beamex MC6-T automated temperature calibration system
is shown here being used in the field
is a documenting calibrator and communicates
with calibration software.
This enables a digitalized and fully paperless
calibration process.
An alternative calibration approach
is evolving at Endress+Hauser
Temperature+System Products
(Nesselwang, Germany; www.ehts.
endress.com) - self calibration. In
2017, after seven years of development,
the company introduced the
iTHERM TrustSens TM371 (Figure
2) - the world's first self-calibrating
temperature sensor.
According to Endress+Hauser, the
iTHERM TrustSens integrates a highprecision
reference with long-term stability
into the temperature sensor itself.
The reference material has a unique
and fixed point, its Curie point (TC),
which is the temperature where the
ferromagentic properties of the material
abruptly change. This change in
properties can be detected electronically,
which in turn enables the point at
which TC is reached to be determined
and used as the reference temperature
for calibrating the Pt100 sensor.
The exact TC for the reference
11

http://www.beamex.com http://www.ehts http://www.endress.com http://www.emerson http://WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM

Chemical Engineering July 2021

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