UEC Shares 3 Ways To Enhance Gas Monitoring

The implications of failing to detect gas leaks can impact the environment and workers’ health.

Facilities are turning to smart, connected technologies when it comes to the accurate detection of odorless and invisible gases.

Listed below are three ways automation can help improve gas detection:

• Deploy wireless sensors to increase monitoring density

Deploying wireless sensors is a quick way to increase monitoring density, achieve continuous monitoring and provide real-time analytics to detect and measure gas concentration levels. In terms of device placement, the recommended practice for toxic detectors is to deploy them where personnel is at risk of exposure.

In the case of flammable gases, detectors should be deployed where gas accumulations are known to occur since these are areas with the highest risk of explosion.

• Deploy open communication protocols

Advanced wireless gas detection systems can communicate through open communication protocols

Advanced wireless gas detection systems are capable of communicating through open communication protocols like ISA100. This makes it easier for operators to deploy more sensors throughout the facility and even in hard-to-access areas. 

Information can be routed through other WirelessHART or ISA100 devices and aggregated at the plant control system level so that users can then observe conditions from their laptops, tablets, phones, or any smart device. This ensures that no part of the production environment is out of sight and that operators always have a real-time view.

• Consider gas detection as an input to predictive asset maintenance (PAM)

Expand the use of gas detection to include asset integrity. The premise is that ambient gas concentration can be used as an input for predictive maintenance, specifically the Predictive Asset Management System. 

An increasing trend in background gas concentration indicates a gas leak in an asset, and the PAM system could initiate proactive remedial action before the leak worsens. As facilities look to reduce operating costs while increasing reliability, automating gas detection wirelessly is a simple and cost-effective solution.