BACKGROUND
An Oil processing company, a market leader based in Navi Mumbai, to improve the inventory of the various Oil it stores in the huge Storage Tanks. Measuring the volume of tanks on daily basis used to be tiresome and hectic activity for its employees. So they approached ESD for a complete solution.
CHALLENGES
The Oil Company sought a solution that could automate Level measuring, provide real-time data for each of their 36 Oil Tanks.
Primary challenges faced by Oil company were:
- Inconsistent Level measuring which was done manually.
- Plant spread across 50-60 acres. Employee had to travel to each Tank, climb the stairs of 50-60 feet Oil Tanks and measure its Level using DIP method.
- This used to be especially challenging and physically risky during the rainy season.
- Consolidating data of all the Tanks took lot of time and Management used to be in dark till mid-afternoon.
SOLUTION
Our team developed a comprehensive Level Monitoring system tailored for the Oil Company. The solution included the following key components:
- Wireless Data Acquisition System: On-site, it is difficult to implement wiring, because of the huge area of the plant. So we designed a LoRa-based wireless solution to capture real-time data and transmit it to our IoT gateway wirelessly.
- Gateway used office LAN Internet connection so day-to-day running cost was non-existent and up-time was virtually 100%.
- Online Data Visualization: A web application was created to display Real-Time Level data, and historical trends. This application allows operators and managers to monitor the Level from anywhere using Mobile web browser.
- Daily Email Summary: Directors and Senior management required Daily One Email at 7am which will give snaphot of the entire plant. An excel report is being emailed to them which gives better visibility at their finger tip.
RESULT
The implementation of the real-time temperature monitoring system brought significant improvements to Oil Company:
- Enhanced Product Quality: Consistent Level monitoring ensured propert visibility leading to improved product quality and Time-to-market.
- Operational Efficiency: Automation reduced manual monitoring efforts, allowing staff to focus on other critical tasks.
- Proactive Management: Real-time data enabled proactive decision-making, reducing downtime and waste.
- Data-Driven Insights: Historical data analysis provided insights into Level patterns and helped in predictive analysis for future needs.
CONCLUSION
The Real-Time Level Monitoring System proved to be a valuable asset for the Oil Company. Of the most, the Workers who used to take the readings manually were amongst the most happy and satisfied lot. Within a short span the company expanded the Tank Groups because of the more than satisfactory performance.
