During the year 2009, we worked very closely with PRAXAIR Mexico for the joint development of a Real-Time Monitoring system for their metering stations in Nitro-ducts and Oxi-ducts. The objective of the project was to have reliable and timely information on the consumption and measurement variables minute by minute from all the existing metering stations in Mexican territory. The implemented solution was based on the development of Taylor Made Hardware, Firmware, and Software using Cellular Telemetry to centralize the data from all the measurements into a central server.
The resulting system from this development has since become a key component for our client’s operations and has been operational since its launch in 2009, ever since more than 50 units have been installed in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America.
The system has proven its robustness on different occasions when, due to force majeure, communication with some of the stations has been lost, and once the medium is restored, all the information is automatically retrieved within a few hours.
The measuring stations of our client use an orifice-plate equipped with Differential Pressure, Gauge Pressure, and Temperature transmitters. These signals are connected to a FloBoss™ Flow Computer from Emerson, which computes the flow and has MODBUS RTU communication protocol.
The client’s issues were:
- Need to periodic visits to metering sites for Manual data collection
- Time and risk associated with on-site personnel for manual data collection
- Lack of real-time information eliminating the possibility of peak and low consumption analysis
- Reportes generated manually
The solution for this project involved the development of specialized hardware and firmware for the telemetry equipment, as well as the creation of software installed on the central server for processing the information.
The developed equipment was our RTU RDM-FB, which communicates with the FloBoss™ installed at the measurement stations to perform calculations of flow variables and the consumption totalizer. The RDM-FB acquires the data and transmits the information using the cellular data network. The data is received on a central server where our WDM software is installed, which then provides validated information to the client’s Information System.
Thanks to the developed solution, the client gained numerous benefits:
- Minute by minute data, allowing for detection of leaks in the network, as well as demand peaks and drops
- Information is updated every 15 minutes on their server
- Historical storage on the server a
- Data backup and Buffering in the RTU’s internal memory
- Real-time alarms via email and SMS
- Identification of consumption trends
- Detection of leaks in pipelines
- Generation of pre-invoices
- Remote configuration of RTU by use of centralized software