Universal Wireless Network Improve Plant Safety, Reliability and Efficiency

Honeywell unveils OneWireless – the company's universal industrial wireless mesh network solution. OneWireless helps improve plant safety, reliability and efficiency with a scalable wireless infrastructure that supports wireless-enabled devices in strategic locations throughout a facility. The universal network supports multiple industrial protocols and applications simultaneously, providing a single wireless network that is simple to manage and efficient to operate.

Scalable to 30,000 devices, OneWireless supports existing Honeywell XYR 5000 wireless transmitters, which started shipping in 2004 and are now installed at more than 500 industrial sites, as well as the company's new line of XYR 6000 transmitters, which includes corrosion, gauge pressure, differential pressure, high-level analog input and temperature transmitters.  The solution also supports wired transmitters, mobile worker devices such as IntelaTrac* PKS and Mobile Station, and standard Wi-Fi and Ethernet clients.  The open, standards-based infrastructure allows manufacturers to take advantage of new applications as they become available.

Honeywell has implemented field trials of OneWireless at multiple sites, including Nucor Steel Tuscaloosa Inc. in Alabama where the OneWireless network is configured with wireless temperature and pressure sensors to improve the efficiency of several steel-manufacturing processes. The pressure sensors, for example, enable operators to measure air filtration system performance and schedule maintenance only as needed. This leads to more efficient maintenance and less downtime.

Nucor also uses the technology in its “bag house,” a building which filters air from the steel-making process to eliminate potentially harmful substances. The differential pressure transmitters monitor the bags to determine when they need cleaning.