Many production plants are run for 20 years or more. They were planned at a time when the current demands for communication across all levels were still unheard of. SAMSON is examining how to make data, which are generated by field units installed in existing plants, usable for cloud-based monitoring and optimization.
The majority of control valves is automated by positioners. Smart positioners with diagnostic functions and communication features have become state of the art. The demonstrator shows that these smart field units can be used to link individual control valves to the SAP cloud without interfering with the existing process control system.
The exhibit includes two control valves, each one fitted with a smart Series 3730 Positioner. Using WirelessHART® (Type 3730-3 Positioner) and PROFIBUS® PA (Type 3730-4), the two positioners cyclically read the process and diagnostic data and transmit them through a cloud gateway to the SAMSON application running in the SAP cloud. This is where the data are structured, analyzed and clearly visualized on a dashboard. As a result, predictive maintenance becomes possible.