Can Heartbeat verification extend your calibration cycles?
Performing regular, traceable calibrations on process instrumentation is necessary to maintain the accuracy and reliability of measurements, while complying with all necessary legislative and regulatory requirements.
However, calibrations can be costly and usually result in process downtime, with a corresponding impact on manufacturing. And failure to calibrate at the correct intervals can result in errors that affect product quality or safety, with potentially major cost implications. To overcome this, Endress+Hauser has introduced Heartbeat Technology into a broad range of devices to offer permanent diagnostics and verification without process interruption.
While there are many instruments on the market today with self-diagnostic features that give the user some level of information about the health of the device, most of them fail to provide traceable evidence that the instrument is still operating in accordance with the original manufacturer’s specification.
Heartbeat Technology overcomes this by providing a continuous health check of the instrument, ensuring key device parameters remain within Endress+Hauser’s original specification. Any deviation from factory reference values will be displayed in easy-to-understand diagnostic data, highlighting that maintenance is required or a failure has occurred, in accordance with NAMUR NE 107.
Meeting regulatory requirements 
Regulatory bodies and standards, including GMP and ISO 9001, define the need for process instrumentation to be periodically calibrated or verified against a known standard, but it is the end user’s responsibility to determine the correct frequency for calibrating each and every process instrument.
The decision on when to calibrate a device can be difficult, requiring the end user to find the right balance between saving operational costs (by extending intervals between calibrations) and ensuring the reliability of the process.
The aim is always to minimise downtime and maximise plant productivity. Until recently, if an end user decided to extend the period between calibration cycles, they had to do so in the knowledge that the condition of the device in between calibrations could not be easily verified.
An alternative way to fulfil legislative requirements and increase confidence in the installed instruments is through on-board verification of the device. With Heartbeat Technology, the device runs a diagnostics program where all relevant components of the instrument are checked. This allows the user to confirm and document that the instrument still conforms to the original factory reference values.
Verification of an instrument equipped with this self-diagnostic capability can be performed without removing the instrument from the process, therefore reducing the potential for process contamination and the risk of damage to the device during the reinstallation process.
It may not even be required to interrupt the process, as the verification tests can all be performed in the background. Pass or fail results are available immediately after the test, providing the user with clear information on whether the instrument is still operating according to specification.
Minimal effort
A key benefit of Heartbeat verification is that it can be initiated locally or remotely with minimal effort. The procedure is usually completed within a few minutes, which means that the verification can be easily performed on a daily or batch-by-batch basis, significantly increasing the confidence in the instrument and its measurement values.
Following a Heartbeat verification, the device generates a report that can be downloaded in PDF format for storing or archiving, with the last eight verifications stored inside the transmitter. Devices with Heartbeat Technology allow users to significantly extend calibration cycles, reducing operating expenditure while ensuring the process remains fully compliant.
For more information, visit www.uk.endress.com/heartbeat
Endress+Hauser is committed to helping its customers to improve data transparency and asset traceability to increase productivity: in essence, to make smarter decisions. Find out how you can begin to unlock the potential of your assets here: www.smarter-decisions.co.ukÂ
Endress+Hauser UK
- +44 161 286 5000
- info@uk.endress.com
- https://www.uk.endress.com
- Floats Road Manchester M23 9NF GB
About us
A strong partner worldwide
Endress+Hauser is a global leader in measurement instrumentation, services and solutions for industrial process engineering. We provide process solutions for flow, level, pressure, analytics, temperature, recording and digital communications, optimising processes in terms of economic efficiency, safety and environmental impact. Our customers come from various industries, including chemical, food & beverage, life sciences, power & energy, primaries & metal, oil & gas and water & wastewater.
Benefits
- Net sales of 2.4 billion euros – a strong partner
- More than 13,900 employees worldwide – a reliable employer
- Equity ratio of 71% – solidly financed
- Continuous annual investments of approximately 160 million euros – future-oriented
- Nearly 7,800 patents and patent applications – innovative and creative
Where we supply to
UK Ireland, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, South America, North America
Industries we supply to
Automation, Chemicals, Consultants, Components Electronics, Energy and Power, Food and Beverage, Glass Ceramics Cement, Metals and Minerals, OEM, Paper and Pulp, Pharmaceutical Cosmetics Toiletries, Plastics and Rubber, Recycling, Textiles, Tobacco, Water and Wastewater
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