In almost every production facility where fluid is flowing, valves are used to start, stop, change direction of, or control the amount of liquid or gas flow. In many of these plants, there is no feedback to tell operators and maintenance personnel the health of the valve or whether it is open or closed. Without this basic information, how can you guarantee the quality of your product? More knowledge about the status of your valves leads to increased efficiency and decreased downtime.
The MVQ smart valve sensor continuously monitors the actual position of a quarter-turn valve in increments of 0.1 degrees. It is now possible to have a reliable indication of valve open / valve closed. The sensor also has predictive maintenance functions that can indicate valve open / close cycle time and deterioration of the valve seal.
Valves wear over time and maintenance is inevitable to keep production running efficiently. Consider a manufacturing plant with 100 valves operating every day. Assume the following:
Cost of inspection | Cost of repair |
---|---|
100 valves x 4 inspections/year x 20 minutes/valve x $100/hour | 3 hours/valve x $100/hour |
$13,200 per year inspection cost | $300 per valve repair cost |
Note: Repair cost more that doubles if the valves are difficult to reach due to forklift and extra labor required. If the valve must be replaced, add $1000 more to the repair cost.
The MVQ smart valve sensor continuously monitors the status of valve seal wear, so maintenance can be planned as needed, rather than a time-based approach when maintenance may not actually be necessary.
MVQ201 with solenoid outputs can help you to reduce wiring complexity and simplify cable management in the control cabinet.
Assume the following:
Typical installation | Using MVQ201 (direct solenoid connection) | |
---|---|---|
Cable from sensor to control cabinet | 10m x $3/m x 100 valves = $3000 | 10m x $3/m x 100 valves = $3000 |
Cable from solenoid to control cabinet | 10m x $3/m x 100 valves = $3000 | 0.3m x $3/m x 100 valves = $90 |
Labor | $100/hour x 16 hours = $1600 | $100/hour x 8 hours = $800 |
Total installation cost | $7600 | $3890 |
Using MVQ201 results in less downtime and a savings of ~50%!