CASE STUDY: Mining Co Titanium Coils Destroyed by Closed Failures

Challenge:

A mining company has steam to power many processes including a tank farm, autoclave and heating. They have experienced a number of cold (closed) failures which caused titanium coils to blow. Not only are the coils very expensive to replace but since they are so remote it takes time and more money to get replacement coils to the site.

While waiting for replacements production can not continue so the whole site sits idle.

Each titanium coil costs upwards of $500, but the real cost is safety and reliability

Solution:

Installing Pulse Steam Trap Monitors on all steam traps enabled the mining operation to get advance warning and turn system off before the pressure builds enough to blow the titanium coils. A new steam trap is very cost effective and swapping it out takes a minimal amount of time and effort. Cold failures are quite rare but they actually represent a more dangerous failure - a worker in the area could potentially be injured. Monitoring traps using temperature and sound allows all types of traps and all types of failures to be detected in time to be repaired.

“We experience less down time and I am relieved to not put workers at risk anymore.”

Benefits:

• Titanium coils are very expensive - getting advance warning that pressure levels are increasing to a point where they would cause failures means the coils last much longer

• Workers are safe and don’t have long periods of inactivity due to system shut downs

• LoRaWAN technology is another essential element in these scenarios as equipment is very remote

• Inspections are also much more difficult to arrange due to accessibility challenges, inspections are required much less frequently with automated monitoring devices

• Both closed and open failures on dozens of different types of equipment are caught and repaired over the course of many months not just annually with inspections

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CASE STUDY: Hospital Uses Steam to Sterilize Instruments

Challenge:

A large hospital in Canada uses steam in a variety of unique ways. They heat their building with it but also use it to sterilize instruments. They need to be very careful with the use of chemicals and yet need the highest degree of cleanliness on these tools. Steam is a brilliant and efficient answer.

They are constantly being asked to cut costs and find more efficient ways of operating. They had a competitive solution in place but they only put monitors on 5% of their traps, leaving many un-monitored with potential for long term failures and unnecessary energy costs.

Solution is cost effective, easily transferable and flexible enough to fit a multitude of uses

Solution:

Pulse was able to put monitors on all steam traps in the hospital and, even with the cost of replacement of existing monitors, saw a huge reduction in energy costs which made them realize a return in investment in a very short while. The hospital has a wide variety of pipe sizes which was not a problem for Pulse whose monitors have the flexibility to fit on all sizes of pipes.

Email alerts are sent to multiple operations and maintenance personnel who work different shifts and locations. They don’t need to have to access a central monitor to quickly and easily assess failures and alerts. A few months after the initial install a wing was restructured, it was a simple matter to move and add monitors into the system.

“We are under intense scrutiny after the pandemic to be sterile and cost effective - steam gives us both”

Benefits:

• Fits all sizes of pipes

• System went from 5% to 90% of traps monitored at all times

• They realized instant ROI from the project

• Scaleable and easily transferable monitors offer flexibility of installation

• Steam for heating and sterilization is now operating at peak efficiency enabling hospital to funnel savings into additional services

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CASE STUDY: Pulp & Paper Use AI to Control Steam Processes

Challenge:

A pulp & paper plant in Quebec has a very extensive boiler and steam system. They use steam for a variety of processes, everything from adding it to the pulp itself as well as using rolls that are internally heated with steam. Maintaining a uniform temperature across the surface of the roll is essential for making quality product. Since steam is a gas, it fills the entire volume of the roll and evenly distributes heat as it condenses.

Steam accounts for 43% of facility energy usage. They have an entire team of engineers dedicated to increasing efficiency.

Solution:

Recovery of pre-treatment steam during pulping and steam for drying is paramount for reusing energy. In fact it can result in approx 14% energy savings. But with steam accounting for 43% of the facilities total energy usage, there is a potential for additional significant cost savings by detecting and repairing steam trap failures. They installed Pulse Steam Trap Monitors on all steam traps, connected to a series of gateways to connect all wireless IoT monitors to a cloud server. They now receive email alerts of all failures instantly and can repair traps with very little lost energy or variations in uniformity of temperatures. In the future they hope to use the AI inherent in the Pulse Solution to do additional analytics. They hope to use predictive modelling to see how different levels of steam pressure affect the cost and efficiency of the system.

“We are always looking for innovations in order to stay competitive. AI is the next level for us”

Benefits:

• Significant energy cost savings were recognized through the instant availability of failure alerts

• Product outputs were now more consistent and of higher quality overall

• Future AI plans are in place to try to optimize the steam system efficiency

• They were able to go from 3 shifts of workers to 2 as actual manufacturing only happens 16 hours a day, the third shift were only babysitting the infrastructure

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