Date of Publication: November 25, 2019
Supplier Application Input Contacts:
Justin Grubka – Armstrong International Inc.
Emily Saopraseuth – Emerson Automation Solutions
Lukas Klaussman – Endress+Hauser (International) Holding AG
Garry Cusick – Pepperl+Fuchs Inc.
Luke Warren – United Electric Controls
User Application Input Contacts:
Nucor Steel – 2015 Plant of the Year winner
Natural Soda – 2018 Plant of the Year nominee
Document Distribution / Maintenance Control / Document Approval
To obtain information concerning document distribution control, maintenance control, and document approval
please contact FieldComm Group at the address shown below.
Copyright © 2019 FieldComm Group
This document contains copyrighted material and may not be reproduced in any fashion without the written
permission of FieldComm Group.
Trademark Information
FieldComm Group™, FOUNDATION™ Fieldbus, HART-IP™, FDI™ are trademarks, and HART
®
, WirelessHART
®
,
ROM
®
and SIF
®
are registered trademarks of FieldComm Group, Austin, Texas, USA. Any use of these terms
hereafter in this document, or in any document referenced by this document, implies the trademark/registered
trademark. All other trademarks used in this or referenced documents are trademarks of their respective
companies. For more information, contact FieldComm Group at the address below.
Intellectual Property Rights
The FieldComm Group (the Group) does not knowingly use or incorporate any information or data into the
HART, FOUNDATION Fieldbus and FDI protocol standards, which the Group does not own or have lawful rights
to use. Should the Group receive any notifi cation regarding the existence of any confl icting private IPR, the
Group will review the disclosure and either (A) determine there is no confl ict; (B) resolve the confl ict with
the IPR owner; or (C) modify the standard to remove the confl icting requirement. In no case does the Group
encourage implementers to infringe on any individual’s or organization’s IPR.
Attention: FieldComm Group President
FieldComm Group
9430 Research Boulevard, Suite 1-120
Austin, TX 78759 USA
Tel: +1 (512) 792-2300
www.fi eldcommgroup.org
4 5
Introduction
The fi rst WirelessHART devices were deployed in 2009 and since then over 40,000 networks have been
installed. Today, WirelessHART instruments represent more than 4% of all HART unit sales - hundreds of
thousands of WirelessHART devices per year. In fact, WirelessHART has the single largest market share (>30%)
of all process wireless communications. WirelessHART is providing signifi cant benefi ts to the industry and
improving the reliability and competitiveness of plants.
In a recent survey (2019) by Control Magazine, nearly 88% of users indicated they were interested in wireless
technology application stories. This application guide summarizes a diverse set of existing applications /
installations, illustrating some of the possibilities WirelessHART offers. Most importantly, all of this information
serves to aid users in improving plant performance through access to actionable information.
Why Wireless?
WirelessHART offers 30%-60% lower installation costs than adding traditional wired instruments. This alone
enables adding more points for measurement and optimization of existing plants previously considered
unachievable. Since no additional instrument wiring is needed, deployment can be completed very quickly. In
fact, one study featured in this document shows WirelessHART uses for mobile/temporary installations.
WirelessHART was developed for the process industry and the very high reliability it demands. Well-formed
WirelessHART networks routinely exceed >99.99% reliability. WirelessHART are mesh networks. This means
that all devices have multiple neighbors and multiple paths to communicate over. This redundancy ensures
communication reliability. Since Radio Frequency (RF) conditions and interference patterns change over time,
WirelessHART Network Managers are always grooming and improving the mesh network. WirelessHART’s
extreme reliability instills user confi dence and encourages innovative applications like those summarized in
this guide.
Getting started is simple. Most vendors who manufacture WirelessHART products offer a “starter kit”,
consisting of a WirelessHART gateway and 5 fi eld devices. You should have at least 5 devices to ensure you
have a solid, redundant mesh network. This small installation/network allows evaluation of WirelessHART in
your plant. Adding instruments and growing your network actually enhances reliability. In fact, WirelessHART
networks are easy to expand and deployment aligns with existing standard practices. As with HART 4-20mA
devices, when a new instrument is received, normal bench-top commissioning is performed (like entering its
Tag). In addition, WirelessHART devices only need a Network ID and Join Key. WirelessHART instruments work
with the HART-enabled tools you already have. When the device is installed in the fi eld, it automatically fi nds
the WirelessHART network, joins it, and begins communicating.
WirelessHART gateways provide robust connectivity options to the instruments in the network. All gateways
support HART-IP and often other protocols. This allows data integration over the local intranet or cloud
applications via the internet. Supplemental protocols (like MODBUS) even allow the additional instrumentation
to be integrated into existing, legacy systems.
WirelessHART saves signifi cant time and money as opposed to traditional wired installations. Its high-reliability
and easy setup removes barriers to deploying new instrumentation and making plant improvements. As a
result, plant availability and competitiveness can be enhanced.
This guide provide many application stories to fi re your imagination and encourage you to improve your
business.
6 7
would detect fugitive gas emissions and transmit the
concentration data to the SCADA system through the
WirelessHART gateway.
Results
“I am very satisfi ed with the performance of the Van-
guard units. The Vanguard could detect methane con-
centrations as low as 1% LEL or 500ppm” says Mbeu-
keu. “With its wireless capability, there was no need to
run any power and signal wires onsite, saving us labor,
time and material costs. In terms of data reporting,
the Vanguard units transmitted data reliably and accu-
rately over the recent months and there are no con-
nectivity issues with the gateway. The Vanguard units
were also interoperable with other WirelessHART
devices. One of my favorite things about the Vanguard
is its ease of use and calibration. Calibration is simple
with the touch of one button.”
To date, several hundred
Vanguard Methane Gas
Detectors have been
commissioned to provide
24/7 monitoring of well
heads at underground natural gas storage facilities.
With residential populations often close to these sto-
rage locations, operators are able provide reassurance
that even small leaks won’t go undetected for any
material length of time.
Overview
Central Valley Gas Storage LLC operates an
underground natural gas storage facility in California.
Once a natural gas fi eld, the facility was successfully
converted into a storage reservoir for gas reinjection.
The conversion process involved drilling many
new wells to enable rapid withdrawal of gas from
the reservoir storage. With methane as a primary
constituent of natural gas, these wells are a potential
source of hazardous leakage.
Challenge
Reducing methane emissions has always been a
challenge for the gas industry, along with compliance
with emerging regulations. Enhancing safety is always
paramount. Methane is highly combustible gas and if
suffi ciently accumulated, almost any ignition source
can cause an explosion.
“We needed a way to detect small methane leaks
around the wellhead. That way, the small leaks could
be fi xed in time before they developed into bigger
ones,” says Patrice Mbeukeu, Instrumentation and
Controls Engineer. “When I fi rst heard of a Wire-
lessHART fi xed gas detector, I did not think much of it
because of some previous negative experience with
gas detectors. Shortly after that, however, I got the
idea of using multiple wireless monitors to create a
gas detection envelope around a wellhead. Because
we had a WirelessHART net-
work already, adding a Vanguard
WirelessHART combustible gas
detector had great potential to
solve the challenge we faced.”
Application
With the help of optical imaging
technology, Mbeukeu positioned multiple Vanguard
units optimally around the wellhead for effective mon-
itoring of a controlled release of a methane plume.
Deploying multiple units ensured that even if the wind
blew in different directions, at least one Vanguard
WirelessHART Gas Detectors
Help Lower Emissions and
Safety Risks for California
Underground Natural Gas
Storage Sites
Application: Gas Utility
Industry: Underground Natural Gas Storage
Location: USA
Global Tire Manufacturer
Reduces Waste and Increases
Safety via WirelessHART
Application: Tire Manufacturing
Industry: Steam and Temperature Monitoring
Location: Unreleased
Application
A global tire manufacturer was having issues of
obtaining the temperature in their tire press creating
scrap product while increasing the chance of a safety
event. During operation, the steam system had failed
steam traps periodically backing up condensate
resulting in low temperature alarms in the tire press
and creating a water hammer. The steam traps in
question are in hard to reach locations that cannot be
checked by technicians while the machine is running
in a safe or timely manner. Monitoring various steam
traps on the tire presses while integrating real time
alarms it into local HMI’s allowed operators to ensure
the steam system was operating properly eliminating
the risk of running scrap.
Goal
The customer had no option to run wired
instrumentation to the tire presses due to the
high temperatures of the equipment and space
requirements in and around the tire press. The
customer wanted to give the ability to an operator to
safely watch the operation of the steam traps while
the system was running on the HMI for each press, if
there was an issue they could bypass the steam traps
during press operation, allowing the tire press to get
up to temperature and create good product.
Solution
Installing 1 WirelessHART gateway and 30 non-
intrusive transmitters, the customer was able to span
the entire tire press while monitoring all critical steam
traps and air vents. Utilizing a WirelessHART gateway
allowed the customer to implement a monitoring
system quickly while the tire presses were shut
down during a 1-day turn around. The customer then
integrated the WirelessHART gateway into the HMI
allowing operators to receive real time alerts while
the press was running ensuring there were no issues
with the process. Additionally, the system extended
the lifetime of components on the tire press by not
allowing condensate to sit in the steam system at
various times of operation, lowering the total cost of
maintenance by 5% per year while decreasing scrap
runs by 20%.
Benefi ts
While wired instrumentation was not an option,
wireless allowed the customer to provide process
information in a short time frame and in a cost-
effective manner. Utilizing a WirelessHART system
the customer could then monitor other critical
process information without running wires to the
same area resulting in more asset monitoring such
as pressure and temperature on various parts of the
equipment.
“I am very satisfi ed with the
performance of the Vanguard units.
The Vanguard could detect methane
concentrations as low as 1% LEL
or 500ppm.”
