Predictive maintenance for hazardous areas

Fuelled by fierce demand for faster and more efficient production, growth in Industry 4.0 spend is predicted to reach US$300 billion by 2023. This data comes from IoT Analytic’s ‘Industry 4.0 and Smart Manufacturing’ report, which states predictive maintenance technologies are among the top Industry 4.0 use cases. For the last five years, WEG has been developing its own digitalisation portfolio to fulfil this growing demand.

Industries operating in hazardous areas must consider standard safety practices and ensure all equipment meets the requirements for flammable or explosive atmospheres. Effective monitoring, predictive maintenance and rapid response to failure is crucial for engineers managing these assets. A hazardous area is anywhere with an atmosphere containing, or potentially containing, gases, vapours or dust which are flammable or explosive. Industries such as oil and gas are rigorously analysed when installing equipment to minimise the risk to individuals and assets.

It’s crucial that equipment operating in these conditions are effectively monitored to pre-empt any issues before they occur. Unlike most industries, these issues not only result in downtime, but present a significant safety risk.

Monitoring matters

Condition monitoring is integral in industrial operations to avoid downtime, implement maintenance, and reduce the risk of failure. Remote condition monitoring has previously been limited in hazardous areas due to the lack of cost-effective and easy to install solutions – and the often-challenging environments in which this equipment exists. For example, equipment used in subsea applications or on offshore operations cannot be monitored as frequently or easily.

However …

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