This Spanish Refinery is Both on Air and In Control with Wireless Automation

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Significantly Lower Installation Costs

Petronor began rolling out a new Scada (Supervisory control and data acquisition) system and upgrading the infrastructure in the field back in 2012. One of the key focuses here was on the monitoring of internal product transport, seeing as this is instrumental in determining the output and efficiency of a plant. Another focus was on valve position. If, for instance, valves are not in the right position, this may lead to numerous costs for reprocessing.

The concept drafted calls for an RS-485 bus system to be employed to interconnect the process components, including pumps, valves, and pressure sensors, via Modbus RTU. However, when the economic crisis hit Spain in 2009, the planned budget was reduced. This meant this solution could not be implemented.

Replacing the Cable Djungle

Under great pressure to keep costs down, management was looking for alternatives. “During our search, the Radioline wireless system from Phoenix Contact caught our eye,” reports José Maria Elexpe Rovira, Head Project Engineer in the Optimization and Control Department.

“The wireless solution allowed us to replace the RS-485 cables with wireless data transmission and sharply curtail installation costs by doing so. As well as the money we could save, other key selling points for us were the high level of flexibility and reliability offered by Radioline and the excellent experience of users from other industrial sectors,” José María goes on to say.

Wireless Monitoring Put to the Test

The Radioline wireless system first had to demonstrate it was reliable and resistant to interference in a test application under real-life conditions. The measurement readings were transferred both via existing cables and via wireless and then recorded in the control center. Trusted Wireless technology, on which the Radioline system is based, demonstrated it was able to deliver high availability levels. The same was also true in terms of coexistence with other nearby wireless systems, since Petronor also uses wireless LAN in parts of the refinery.

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