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Process Monitoring, Reporting the Location of an Activated Emergency Shower
Challenge
A chemical company needs to know when and where an
emergency shower is activated so that it can send a security guard to the appropriate shower to render assistance.
Though the initial installation involved only 15 showers, future plant expansion may include up to 99 individual showers spread throughout the entire facility in both indoor and outdoor locations. The farthest outdoor location is approximately one mile away from the central control location. For these reasons, a wireless notification system was an optimal solution.
Solution
At each emergency shower location, a FlexPower Node with 4 discrete inputs and 4 discrete outputs and DX81 Battery Supply Module was installed. Because the installation was a Class I, Division 2 environment, the DX80...C housings were used and installed inside an appropriate enclosure.
When the shower is activated by a mechanical whisker switch, the FlexPower Node sends a signal to a Gateway and controller to notify security that a shower was engaged at a specific location. This enables a security team to more quickly find the specific shower and determine the extent of the emergency.
Some emergency showers are activated by a pressure sensitive floor mat instead of a switch. Either sensing device can be wired as an input on the Class I, Division 2 FlexPower Node. The FlexPower Node operation allows the radio device and sensor to be powered by 10 to 30V dc or a battery supply module. In this application, a single battery supply module will provide power to the sensor and radio device for up to five years.