Nick Denbow’s European report: Ex-rated site inspection video camera transmits remotely
August 2019
Editor's Choice
Librestream and ecom, a brand of the Pepperl+Fuchs group, announced a major collaboration at the Offshore Technology Exhibition in Houston in May. This joint development aims to ease and improve safety inspections and on-site work in any zoned hazardous locations, using their Onsight Cube-Ex wearable camera.
In a video example of a site inspection on a newly installed pressure gauge, the work instructions are initiated on a conventional communications device by scanning the bar coded tag. This takes the operator through the initial stages, and then calls for initiation of the Onsight Cube video camera, which links to his phone system, and contacts the office based technician. The technician can then see the gauge, and control the camera, even initiating a thermal imaging mode to read temperatures. Should anything need a further check, the technician can link the video by phone to the design engineer or equipment supplier, who can see the Ex-area site images on their smartphones. Any action is then agreed, or the equipment installation approved, and the video and phone records are retained on the system.
Unique wearable inspection tool
Librestream and ecom worked together to design, build, and certify this unique inspection tool for oil, gas and petrochemical plant workers in Ex-rated environments. By providing products that support safety, efficiency, and collaboration in the oil and gas industry, the Cube-Ex can ensure that work inside and outside hazardous areas is safer, more flexible, and more efficient than ever.
Using the Cube-Ex, workers in a process facility, a petrochemical plant or an oil and gas facility can safely inspect processes and analyse complex assets. By pairing the Cube-Ex with the intrinsically safe ecom 4G/LTE smartphone, Smart-Ex or tablet Tab-Ex, workers can remotely control the camera, view HD video and thermal imaging, or capture and annotate pictures or recordings from a safe distance. The Cube-Ex provides flexibility for workers to wear securely on a hardhat for hands-free inspections, attach to a monopod for hard to reach locations, or mount on or near equipment to enable viewing from afar.
“The Cube adds a new dimension to the traditional wearable category and delivers critical information to these digital workers,” stated Kerry Thacher, CEO, Librestream. “With ecom, we partnered with the clear leader in intrinsically safe hardware to bring the world’s first multi-purpose wearable with thermal imaging to the hazardous location market.” ecom will also offer the product under the brand ‘ecom Ex-Camera Cube 800’. Roolf Wessels, managing director, of ecom added: “We’ve seen strong demand from customers for a companion device that brings thermal and wearable camera capabilities to hazardous location inspections. With Librestream, we shared a common vision to outfit workers with new digital tools. By adding the Cube 800 Ex-camera to our mobile worker ecosystem, our customers gain a valuable and unique tool that can improve safety and overall efficiency.”
The Onsight Cube is also suitable for use in aircraft inspections and for industries where intrinsic safety is not required such as sewage plants, pumping stations and industrial and manufacturing locations. Deliveries of both intrinsically safe and industrial versions commenced in June, from the Librestream plant in Winnipeg, Canada.
Nick Denbow spent thirty years as a UK-based process instrumentation marketing manager, and then changed sides – becoming a freelance editor and starting Processingtalk.com. Avoiding retirement, he published the INSIDER automation newsletter for 5 years, and then acted as their European correspondent. He is now a freelance Automation and Control reporter and newsletter publisher, with a blog on www.nickdenbow.com
Further reading:
Connecting every transport node
RJ Connect
Editor's Choice Data Acquisition & Telemetry
Stockholm's bus system strategically links urban mainline, suburban mainline, non-mainline routes, community service buses and night buses. To acquire and process data from multiple sources and analyse onboard information on their moving buses, Transdev sought a dependable and powerful onboard computer. It teamed up with CatAB, Moxa’s local representative, known for delivering top-notch industrial data communication boards and equipment since 1988.
Read more...
Local range of planetary units
SEW-EURODRIVE
Editor's Choice Motion Control & Drives
As SEW-EURODRIVE South Africa actively extends its offerings to customers, the SEW PPK and SEW P2.e industrial gearbox ranges are good examples of solutions that are well suited to the local business environment.
Read more...
Case History 195: Unstable reboiler steam flow
Michael Brown Control Engineering
Editor's Choice
A high-pressure steam flow control in a reboiler on a column in a petrochemical refinery continually cycled when placed in automatic. Several attempts had been made to tune the controller, but these had been unsuccessful.
Read more...
Open control system for retrofit of conveyor control system
Beckhoff Automation
Editor's Choice
For every online retailer, warehouse logistics is part of the critical infrastructure. An Australian office equipment supplier has retrofitted the warehouse logistics installation of its central warehouse, and replaced the proprietary decentralised controllers of the conveyor lines with PC-based control from Beckhoff, based on powerful EtherCAT communication.
Read more...
Digital industrial platforms and why they are important
Editor's Choice
One of the most significant trends driving digital transformation is the emergence of digital industrial platforms. This article will briefly explore what digital industrial platforms are, why they are important, and how they might shape the future of industrial automation.
Read more...
Celebrating 65 years: rebuilding and redefining its legacy
Editor's Choice News
Founded in 1959 by Neill Simpson, Axiom Hydraulics has grown into one of South Africa’s elite hydraulic companies. Over the past six and a half decades they’ve weathered many challenges, but none as devastating as the fire of 2023.
Read more...
Young robotics team takes world title
igus
Editor's Choice News
In an inspiring demonstration of innovation and teamwork, Texpand, a young South African robotics team, recently made history by winning the 2024 FIRST Tech Challenge World Championships.
Read more...
SAIMC: It’s not black and white
SAIMC
Editor's Choice SAIMC
Grey imports are a problem worldwide, not least in the automation industry in South Africa. The Supplier Advisory Council (SAC) operates under the umbrella of SAIMC, and is tackling this problem head-on.
Read more...
Loop signature 25: Tuning part 3 - Results of tuning a particular simple self-regulating process by several different methods.
Michael Brown Control Engineering
Editor's Choice
A couple of SWAG methods of tuning were given in the previous Loop Signature article. I have tuned a simple self-regulating process using those methods, and two other tuning methods, one of them being the sophisticated Protuner tuning package, which is the system I employ. The tests were performed on a very accurate and powerful simulation package, and the results are compared below.
Read more...
PC-based control for advanced hydrogen storage technology
Beckhoff Automation
Editor's Choice PLCs, DCSs & Controllers
The proportion of renewable energies from solar, wind and water is rising continuously. However, sufficient storage options are of the essence to use these energies as efficiently as possible. GKN Hydrogen offers a particularly compact and safe option, low-pressure metal hydride hydrogen storage systems with PC-based control from Beckhoff.
Read more...
printer friendly version