The U.S. natural gas industry is an extremely important segment of the nation’s economy. In addition to providing one of the cleanest burning fuels available to all other industry segments, it provides much valuable commerce to the U.S. economy. Many experts believe natural gas to be the most important energy source for the future—in the near term because of its low cost relative to other hydrocarbon energy sources, and in the long term because it burns much more cleanly than other hydrocarbon energy sources. One of the largest producers of natural gas liquids in the U.S. has an enormous infrastructure to manage. It includes more than 61,000 miles of pipeline, 60 plants and 11 fractionating facilities, which divide distillates into a range of hydrocarbon end products. While complex, the goal is simple: Keep feeder stock and processed products moving. Because scores of large electric motors drive these critical flows, the company deployed a new “smart” technology over optical fiber to gather real-time motor operations data to ensure 24/7 uptime.
Motor control centers, PLCs and VFDs improve uptime and data management to keep pipeline stocks moving.
12/29/2012
The MCCs, which are manufactured in West Chicago, are tailored to the needs of vertical markets—such as general construction, water and wastewater, oil and gas, and general process industries.
The catalyst to invest in this technology was the need to recommission a vapor recovery unit that had been idle for a year. According to the company’s supervisor for its east Texas operations, the facility’s motor control center (MCC) needed replacing because it did not comply with updated arc flash regulations imposed during its shutdown.
“We also wanted to take advantage of newer hardware such as variable frequency drives (VFDs) and soft starters that weren’t available to us before,” the supervisor said. “And since we were completely replacing the entire MCC, we now have the opportunity to integrate the technology with an overall control system whenever we want to.”