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Process indicator provides options out of the box

A JBJ Techniques product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jun 9, 2008

JBJ Techniques developed a process instrument capable of displaying up to four process variables and providing all the outputs that engineers would need for a typical process application.

There are many high-end process monitoring products and swathes of simple, low-end, single-function products, but very little in between.

In, the monitoring of fluid systems, for example, at one end of the scale, there are simple indicators to show pressure or flow, barely more than a simple display with an alarm output or two.

At the other end of the scale users can spend many thousands of pounds on custom -designed data logging and analysis software that will monitor a huge number of channels provide an extremely large number of alarm outputs.

JBJ Techniques looked around for an effective process indicator and alarm controller to accompany the flow meters that it distributes for Seim in the UK.

"As standard, the flowmeter came with a fairly basic, single-channel indicator with a four-digit display and a couple of alarm outputs", says Product Development Manager Tony Fletcher.

"But our experience of the market is that anyone monitoring flow is also going to interested in one or more pressure points, temperature variations and perhaps a range of other process variables".

"There needs to be an instrument with that sort of functionality mounted locally".

"At the same time, it's rare these days not to need some remote monitoring and datalogging capability, but there's nothing out there that can address the sorts of markets we're looking at straight out of the box".

"There are lots of very good packages that you can program to fit the bill, but those packages are not cheap and the programming requirement is far from trivial".

This was the market need that JBJ Techniques sought to address.

The first part of its solution was a new process instrument capable of displaying up to four process variables and providing all the outputs that engineers would need for a typical process application.

The unit provides a dedicated pulse input for flow meters, with the remaining inputs configurable either as three 4-20mA inputs (for the likes of pressure sensors and thermocouples) or as two 4-20mA inputs and one thermistor input.

Two alarm outputs are provided with no-volt contacts, along with a 4-20mA output of the flow.

"It's a modern-looking process monitor with flexible set-up options and all the functions that today's applications require", says Fletcher.

The unit also sports a serial port on the rear, making all of that data available to a connected PC.

And that was where the next stage of development took JBJ, with the design of a complementary software package.

"Our goal was to create something akin to a dashboard for a hydraulic system - a complete package that was ready to run straight out of the box and which would provide hydraulic systems engineers with all the information they needed in order to monitor the process, perform trend analysis, diagnose faults, dig down into systems and store historical data" Fletcher said.

"On launching, the software presents you with four graphical digital displays, but each can be toggled between various display options, including the likes of analogue dials and temperature gauges".

"All of the inputs to the local process monitor are retransmitted to the PC as standard, so you just need to select the input ports from within the software to make that data available".

"Then you simply set your scaling, alarm points, data logging intervals and a few other set-up parameters and you're ready to go".

The software does everything you need it to do, combining full data logging capability with a real-time line graph display of the four process inputs.

The sampling interval can be set at anything up to a frequency of 500 samples per second, which Fletcher believes is more than good enough for pressure transient analysis in hydraulic systems.

All data is logged as standard, complete with a time and date stamp.

The data can be readily accessed, or pulled straight into a spreadsheet package from where any number of graphically-based reports could be generated.

High and low alarm points can be set for each channel and the software creates a separate log file for all data taken while in the alarm state.

It also records the time and date going into and coming out of the alarm state, while the graphical display highlights the maximum deviation while in the alarm state.

The real-time line graph monitor builds in a high degree of display flexibility, including allowing the user to zoom in on events.

Find out more about this article. Request a brochure, download technical specifications and request samples here.
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