Posted on Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Industrial Sector Warming Up To Wireless Automation
Manufacturing.net
Though the industrial sector has been slow to embrace wireless technology for process automation, product makers are pushing one benefit to hasten its adoption: it’s relatively cheap.
Wireless sensors can monitor an array of situations, from pipeline corrosion to a machine’s energy use and output. They can also track the location of workers to ensure that they are not in harm’s way and remove their need to undertake dangerous tasks in the first place.
”The key to it is just cost per node,” said Jack Bolick, president of Honeywell International Inc.’s Process Solutions division, referring to the individual wireless sensors. ”It’s just cheaper to do it.”
ABI Research senior analyst Sam Lucero supports that claim, saying some companies are able to install three times as many nodes using wireless technology because of the cost difference. Bolick says wiring a plant, tanker, pipeline or other system in the traditional way can cost 50 percent to 90 percent more than installing wireless sensors.
