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Monitoring Motor and Bearing Temperatures in Hazardous Areas
Challenge
The dense airborne particulate in a grain elevator presents a unique challenge when collecting predictive maintenance data such as a conveyor's motor or bearing temperature.
An intrinsically safe FlexPower Node with an integrated battery powering the radio and thermocouple monitors motor or bearing temperatures without running any new wires for either power or data transmission.
Solution
Banner’s DX99 Nodes offer solutions for monitoring the temperature of motor bearings using thermocouples or RTDs. Because these are low power sensors and radios, a battery life of up to three years is possible.
The Node sends temperature data wirelessly back to a central control location for logging and analysis. When the bearing temperature rises unexpectedly, maintenance can be scheduled before any motors burn out or equipment is damaged.
It is likely this temperature data would not be monitored without wireless technology because of the difficulty and risk involved. Operators would be forced to wait until a motor or bearing failed and suffer the down time and repair expenses of an unplanned shutdown.
Monitoring motors for proper operation with a permanently mounted or temporarily deployed wireless solution allows operators to predict potential failures.
The ability to monitor motors in Intrinsically Safe environments allows for a more comprehensive review of equipment and minimizes human risk.
Featured Products
Performance Series Industrial Wireless Gateways and Nodes
Create point-to-multi point networks that distribute I/O over large areas. Input and output types include discrete (dry contact, PNP/NPN), analog (0 to 10 V dc, 0 to 20 mA), temperature (thermocouple and RTD), and pulse counter.