2022 USE CASE
Continuous Asset Integrity
Monitoring to Detect Corrosion With
Ultrasonic LoRaWAN
®
Sensors
SITUATION
Metal loss due to corrosion or erosion in tanks, pipes,
pressure vessels and other critical assets is a
widespread issue in the Oil & Gas and Power
industries. It can result in pressure containment loss,
damaged assets, disrupted services, environmental
harm, and regulatory non-compliance. The use of
damaged equipment can be life-threatening to
people. Asset inspections are mandated in regulations
and codes and required for plant operations.
At a US-based refinery, at least six unplanned outages
that had occurred on an Amine Treating Unit over a
15-year period were traced back to a corrosion issue,
at an estimated cost of ~US$12 million in maintenance
and ~US$200 million in downtime. Corrosion at the
unit had not been identified by field routine
inspections that provided performance snapshots
only once a month.
SOLUTION
Network Provider LORIOT and US-based Sensor
Networks Inc (SNI) offer LoRaWAN® solutions to
monitor industrial assets. LoRaWAN® transmits
data within ~1 mile (1.6 km) in an industrial area
or refinery and is well suited for 'noisy
environments' where steel and concrete can
block radio signals and where data is often
stranded in on-premises SCADA & Process
Control Networks without Internet connectivity.
Automated, wireless, SNI microPIMS® Ultrasonic
sensors have a 15-year battery life. They take
daily wall thickness measurements at strategic
asset locations, providing continuous asset
integrity monitoring to detect corrosion.
Smart
Industry
North
America
Device
Maker
CONTACT INFO:
LORIOT: https://www.loriot.io/index.html
Sensor Network Inc: https://sensornetworksinc.com/
microPIMS: https://sensornetworksinc.com/micropims/
Email: sales@loriot.io or customercare@sensornetworksinc.com
RESULTS
Installing the sensors only took one day and was
done by site personnel. The customer can now
quickly and accurately trend the corrosion rate at
each point where sensors are located within
.001" and adjust process parameters to
remediate or reduce the corrosion where
needed. Data is automatically sent to a private
webPIMS™, cloud-based or on-premises
LoRaWAN® system and software backend and is
plotted over time for predictive analytics,
process optimization, and condition monitoring.
After the installation of the US$40,000
microPIMS®, the unit was operated for
4.62 more years, saving US$4.8 million in
maintenance costs, resulting in a 98% ROI and
payback under 3 months.
