Steam Usage Monitoring on a Large Factory Boiler
Background
A large manufacturing facility required accurate measurement of steam consumption to better understand both overall plant usage and production process demand. Reliable steam flow data was needed to support operational monitoring, improve energy management, and provide cloud-based access for remote analysis.
The project involved installing instrumentation on the site’s main boiler system during a planned shutdown to avoid disrupting production.
Challenge
The installation presented several challenges:
- Two steam flowmeters needed to be installed in locations where direct access to the transmitter would be difficult once the system was fully insulated.
- The project had to be completed within a two-day weekend shutdown to ensure there was no impact on production.
- The customer required both local data acquisition and secure cloud-based monitoring for off-site trend analysis.
- Final commissioning would need to take place after production resumed, allowing the flowmeters to be verified under normal operating conditions.
Solution
Our site team, led by Craig Hamman, installed two Siemens FX330 remote-mounted vortex flowmeters on the factory boiler steam lines to measure both plant and production steam consumption.
The remote-mounted transmitter configuration was selected because both flowmeters were installed in locations that would become difficult to access once the pipework and valves were insulated. This arrangement ensures ongoing accessibility for maintenance and configuration without disturbing the lagging.
The flowmeters’ 4–20 mA and pulse outputs were connected to a Metronic DL7 touchscreen datalogger, while Connected Sensors from Powelectrics Limited’s Metron 4 platform provided secure cloud-based data collection and remote trend analysis.
All installation work was successfully completed during the scheduled weekend shutdown, with commissioning planned during normal operating conditions in the following week to confirm performance under live steam flow.
The successful delivery of the project also benefited from the valuable application support and technical guidance provided by Danny Ronson from Siemens.
Result
The installation was completed successfully within the planned two-day weekend shutdown, ensuring there was no disruption to the customer’s production schedule. Once commissioned under normal operating conditions, the Siemens FX330 vortex flowmeters will provide accurate measurement of both plant and production steam usage, giving the customer valuable insight into steam consumption across the site.
The remote-mounted transmitter configuration ensures easy access for future maintenance and configuration, even after the pipework has been insulated. Combined with the Metronic DL7 datalogger and Powelectrics Metron 4 cloud platform, the solution delivers reliable real-time monitoring, secure remote access to operational data, and historical trend analysis, enabling improved energy management and more informed operational decision-making.
