In the industrial and energy sector , the Process Control method , as well as its own agility and efficiency, has a decisive influence on the long-term global performance and efficiency of the production processes. The need for large amounts of information and its immediacy are one of the main challenges facing the industry in this section.
Unfortunately, route-based solutions and manual processes present an outdated and inefficient situation that requires new technologies to improve, both in the economic aspect and in the agility of decision-making. To illustrate, only in the United States there are more than 4 million km of pipes. The federal law requires to inspect the pipes every five years. With only 137 inspectors on staff, each one would have to inspect more than 5,800 km a year, something impossible and that makes decision making in real time almost impossible.
This problem goes far beyond implementing the control of conditions so that the processes are more efficient. The collection and analysis of the data allows the making of agile strategic decisions, a greater security in the processes and a greater efficiency of all the workers.
Fortunately, thanks to new communications technologies and new routers, modems and gateways , together with a variety of sensors , they allow the creation of automated process control circuits that collect data and transmit it in real time through the network to physical control centers or in the cloud that store them and that allow, with a specialized software, the analysis of data in real time.
Collecting, storing and analyzing data in real time
Evolution of an analog or semi-analog control system to an automated system
Possibility of establishing alert systems
Permanent monitoring to increase productivity and efficiency
Thanks to this technology, the current trend in Process Control can be reversed and 80/20 of time dedicated especially to data collection en route compared to analysis, to 20/80 where most of the time of the workers are dedicated to tasks of analysis and decision making , leaving for the solution of hardware and software the repetitive tasks. In addition, this trend framed within the IoT (Internet of Things), allows to maximize the collection allowing the collection and storage of huge amounts of data .
In addition, the routers, modems and gateways used for Process Control incorporate the possibility of remote and programmable firmware updates , allowing a sufficiently powerful and flexible platform to manage any application , from energy control to industrial manufacturing processes, including sectors traditionally more conservative as the agricultural or livestock, allowing its temporary evolution without the need for actions en route .
