E.ON Kingsnorth captures wireless data

Kingsnorth, UK - E.ON UK is employing wireless technology to monitor and measure treated water usage. The information generated is being used for trending and analysis purposes to formulate target values at the energy company's Kingsnorth dual-fired power station.

Using a system based on Emerson's Smart Wireless technology and Rosemount wireless transmitters, E.ON is collecting flow measurement data from new flowmeters installed throughout the turbine hall. The self-organising wireless network delivers the data for trending in an OSIsoft PI historian which helps personnel monitor water usage within the system.

Engineers at the 1940MW power facility on the Medway Estuary in Kent needed to monitor and measure water usage at its main plant and decided to install new ultrasonic flow meters to carry out this task. The high cost of conventional cabling led them to evaluate wireless technologies that could meet their needs.

“Wireless technology provides the ideal networking solution to access the flow measurement data from the turbine building without having to install new cabling.“ said Chet Mistry, team leader, E.ON UK. Emerson's technology, he said, was selected because it offered high levels of reliability and long transmitting distance, as well as the ability to add additional devices to the network without the need for additional infrastructure.

The turbine hall at Kingsnorth is around 500m long and presents a difficult working environment for wireless as it houses large turbines, vast amounts of metal piping and a number of metal walkways that could interfere with the wireless signal. The environment would not be suitable for a line of sight wireless solution, but the chosen self-organising technology encountered no problems in terms of routing data back to the gateway or reliability of connection.

Some 14 Rosemount wireless transmitters have been installed to provide access to flow percentage readings from the new non intrusive ultrasonic flow meters monitoring different sections of the turbine hall. These are now transmitting flow measurement data every 15 seconds to an Emerson Smart Wireless Gateway, situated in the main administration building on the other side of the road from the turbine hall.

“The gateway is situated in a windowless room within the main building. Despite being totally surrounded by brick walls, when switched on the wireless transmitters were all clearly visible and immediately connected to the gateway,” said Simon Lark, an E.ON engineer.

Using Ethernet the data is sent from the gateway to Emerson’s AMS® Suite predictive maintenance software which manages the wireless transmitters, and uses its OPC server to import the flow data into the PI data historian. From here operators view trends and pinpoint where any loss of flow takes place.

The 14 transmitters took around two hours to configure and then less than six hours to fully install within the plant. In contrast a wired solution would have taken between one and two weeks to complete.

“This initial installation of wireless is providing us with valuable experience,” said Mistry. “We are now hoping to be able to use this experience to apply the technology to a range of applications including accessing valve diagnostic information.”