“WirelessHART-based solutions will enable our customers to access important process and diagnostic information from their HART devices. Dust Networks’ self-organizing wireless network technology, together with their knowledge and support, were very instrumental to our development and have been a key enabler for this market."
Process Control
Process control is assumed to represents a difficult challenge for wireless due to the criticality of the application and perceptions of reliability. However, today there are already numerous examples of highly reliable SmartMesh wireless sensors being used in control applications.In this case, Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel needed a solution. Critical parameters for the 80-inch hot strip finishing mill had been difficult to measure due to the challenges of wiring sensors in the path of the water and steel, where hot slag often defeated previous attempts.
SmartMesh-enabled wireless sensors manufactured by Emerson's Rosemont division were used to monitor the temperature and flow of the water curtain used in cooling the molten strips of steel in the rolling process. Previously, the flow rate of the cooling water was controlled manually by look and feel. The easy-to-install solution was up and running in "less than 24 hours," and the resulting data enabled the operators to gain control of the volume of water being sprayed onto the hot steel surfaces. The payback was immediate: the wireless system helped nearly eliminate coiling temperature rejects.