Chemical Engineering November 2012 - 20

Crystal Engineering
Newsfront
UNDER
PRESSURE
Today's pressure
measurement devices
are improving, so your
process can, too
F
or every chemical process there
are different pressure measurement
requirements. Some demand
devices that are compatible
with a unique chemistry, others
require pressure instrumentation
that won't pose a risk to workers or
processes and many call for instruments
that can handle a wide temperature
range. However, throughout
the chemical process industries (CPI),
there are a few items on everyone's
pressure measurement wish list. It
seems all processors want to improve
the overall efficiency of the process, all
desire devices that are better able to
record and communicate information,
and all need more stability from their
instruments. Fortunately, instrumentation
providers are developing new
products that meet these needs.
Improving efficiency
" In today's environment, helping facilities
is about helping them do more
with less, " says Ted Dimm, product
line manager for pressure, with
Honeywell (Morristown, N.J.; www.
honeywell.com). " Every facility has
fewer people, especially in their maintenance
departments. And following
the loss of skill sets as older people
retire and younger replacements lack
the knowledge, they become more reliant
upon instrument and equipment
FIGURE 1. (left). With enhanced performance,
modular construction, and advanced
display and integration features
used with Experion PKS, the SmartLine
measurement system helps processors
reduce costs, avoid unplanned downtime,
improve product quality, reduce
spare parts inventory and shorten time
to repair, says the company
Honeywell
manufacturers to make life simpler
for them. And pressure measurement
instrumentation is an area where we
can help. "
Dimm says Honeywell strove to add
features to its SmartLine pressuremeasurement
devices that would
allow both operation and maintenance
professionals to become more efficient.
With previous, existing HART-enabled
pressure-measurement instruments,
it was possible to send 32-character
messages to the transmitter, which
were planted in the transmitter memory.
This allowed maintenance people
to use a handheld device to read that
message. " But, it's a lot of work to hook
20 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHE.COM NOVEMBER 2012
FIGURE 2. The nVision from Crystal
Engineering is a reference-class recording
device that delivers high-speed
recording capability and can be used
as a troubleshooting device to aid in effi
ciency and maintenance
all that up, so we added some advanced
display technology, which allows the
transmitter to have the message in its
memory, but also to post that message
in the transmitter's display, so a handheld
device is no longer needed. "
Operators can now send a message
to the transmitter to be displayed on
the indicator, where the maintenance
technician will see the message, know
that he has the right transmitter without
checking the tag and, if the message
is comprehensive, he will know
which tasks - such as calibration
- he is expected to perform without
using a handheld device. " This saves a
lot of time with respect to communica
http://www.honeywell.com http://WWW.CHE.COM
Chemical Engineering November 2012

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