Flow Control – The Current State of Industrial Digital Transformation and a Look to the Future

Imagine you want to take a shower at home, but there is no water. The gas cooker in your kitchen doesn't work either, and the problem seems to lie outside your own walls. Now image that no one is available to fix these issues.

This may sound like the plot to a mediocre comedy movie, but process plants risk similar issues every day. What would happen if an important shut-off valve in the drinking water system is faulty? How would a facility be impacted if the control valve which regulates district heating became worn through friction, and no one realised until the valve failed? How long will it take for repairs to be done if the maintenance staff has been reduced due to budget constraints?

Wherever a medium flows through a pipe—whether it is abrasive, liquid or gaseous—valves are used to shut off, distribute or control its flow. Both the automated valves and their associated components therefore play a central role in keeping operations safe and reliable.

Especially in the process industry, electrification and digitalisation is on the rise, and valves are increasingly equipped with intelligent electric actuators.

Hardly any modern flow control pipeline—or any facility that includes one—can be profitable without automating at least some of its operations. Data centricity, the availability of digital tools for all plant personnel and, most importantly, a culture open to enterprise-wide digitalisation have become crucial for maintaining flow control, which helps keep our energy supply secure.

Where to Start with Industrial Digital Transformation

When embarking on a transformation project, organisations must consider not just individual valves or pipelines; they must take a wider view. All aspects and areas of the plant—the refinery, the power plant, the waterworks, etc.—are completely interconnected.

An effective industrial digital transformation leads to a simplified, comprehensive, self-organised operation in which people, machines, plants, logistics and products are considered and coordinated, enabling a highly digitised and networked production plant, the so-called Smart Factory.  

In this environment, the status of plant processes for condition monitoring, predictive maintenance, plant efficiency, advance planning of downtime and environmental protections are analysed and optimised.

Wireless applications are one area of innovation that supports greater plant sustainability. Also, the ability to accurately measure a plant’s carbon dioxide (CO₂) footprint is a first step to reducing emissions. To do so, companies need the ability to determine at a very early stage precisely how much CO₂ is emitted in total.

Convergence of Descriptive and Predictive Process Data Analytics

The determination of emission quantities and diagnosis of the entire process valve (actuator) is not only about the detection of ‘innate’ anomalies. If only real-time data from normal operations are used, without the context of previous user data, the algorithm may not be able to recognise a clear pattern and therefore be unable to provide an early warning of potential issues.

The production process can change dynamically due to temporary external fluctuations (such as weather, output signals, etc.), which also causes the historical data to contain process deviations. The distinction between different error modes (descriptive data analysis), the indication of the probable cause and the provision of recommended measures to predict possible future scenarios (predictive analytics) are required.

Software solutions such as Emerson DCMlink (Diagnostics, Control and Monitoring) can help organisations collect and use detailed and far-reaching process data and adopt a condition monitoring maintenance approach to predict valve health and enhance plant safety. For example, DCMlink allows operators to overlay current torque curves with previous or baseline curves and easily and quickly check for performance anomalies.

In the past, collecting extensive process data in brownfield locations would have required a significant investment to add or extend a wired data infrastructure within the facility. Today, however, many intelligent electric actuators support wireless communication via Bluetooth, Infrared (IrDA) and WirelessHART, as well as wired connections through Modbus RTU and HART.

Build Your Own Reality with Augmented Reality

Augmented reality (AR) is already being used successfully to improve collaboration and increase the efficiency of human machine interfaces (HMIs). With AR technology integrated into the ecosystem, companies can increase their productivity, collaboration, and plant performance, as well as compensate for shortages of trained personnel and travel restrictions.

When intelligent electric actuators are used in the plant, technology such as DCMlink with AMS SNAP-ON can integrate valve performance data into the digital ecosystem. This data can then feed into the relevant AR applications.

For example, the Plantweb™ performance platform works according to the NAMUR Open Architecture (NOA) concept and enables comprehensive real-time valve diagnostics and analysis as well as real-time remote assistance for plant technicians entrusted with the maintenance and optimisation of equipment. In addition, the dashboard—and thus the live status of the plant—can be displayed in its entirety on your smartphone or tablet. In this scenario, operators are informed before an actuator failure occurs, and proactive action can be taken (Figure 1).

A Look to the Future: Process Valves Learn from Historical and Real-Time Data

All these technologies are already being used successfully today. But the interesting question is: where is the trend going?

Both electrification and the digital transformation of industry is well underway. The connection and communication of field devices with each other as well as with plant-level asset management systems is becoming increasingly important. Complete workflows are becoming more digital.

Digital valves, along with smart electric and electro-hydraulic operators for increased availability of the process, are becoming more important than ever in the process industries. The integration of open software like DCMlink provides an easy connection to the top level of the automation pyramid.

The DCMlink AMS SNAP-ON solution will include algorithms that can learn from both real-time and historical data. The application would analyse all performance data, the health condition of devices and event logs, and then compare them with historical data, detect anomalies and use algorithms for analysis.

This process will combine prescriptive maintenance with predictive analysis. The result, combined with the interplay of condition monitoring, will provide even deeper insights into asset performance.

Additional development in error detection and information transfer from the actuator—and before a potential error occurs—to an authorised mobile device will likely be an area of continued focus. Products and machines, such as automated actuators for flow control, will be actively used with DCMlink software for bidirectional data exchange in the foreseeable future. These can be easily integrated into the exiting firmware and thus into the overall solution through low programming effort.

Prescriptive maintenance information can feed into enterprise systems that manage maintenance-relevant information, such as a Computerised Maintenance Management System (CMMS). Thus, from a generated ticket, a work order can be sent directly to the CMMS, then be transferred to the maintenance team via a mobile device and the CMMS/ERP web browser interface, and lastly be processed in systematic manner.

Today, running closed (locked) separate valve network loops keeps installed motor operated valves (MOVs) locked in, with the inability to switch to other options. HART IP communications back to the host with gateways and connectivity to electric valve actuators will enable complete end-to-end solutions where all (field) components are available from the same software interface.

The standard application protocol on top of Ethernet IP will be HART-IP for field instrumentation (e.g., electric valve actuators, smart valve positioners, measurement equipment and PLCs). Emerson’s current portfolio already supports many of these protocols, such as WirelessHART gateways, AMS Device Manager, and several other software solutions (Figure 2).

No one can say for certain what the future will look like. What we already know, however, is that smart factories have the potential to deliver even more value than they are today. Valves definitively have a role to play in digitalisation efforts, and engineered solution providers can offer a significant advantage for realisation (Figure 3).

DCMLink & Actuation

DCMLink Software Download

AMS Device Manager