saved $4,000 to $5,000 in wire and cabling costs that would otherwise have been needed to link the tank farm to the ZLB Behring plant about 300 feet away. The cost of the wireless solution was about half that of a wired solution, he estimates.

Compared to the once-a-day manual measurements before, the wireless system transmits tank level data every 30 seconds to a base station in the plant that links through a programmable logic controller to a display where the data can be viewed. “It helps clear out the operators’ time and lets us control our inventory a little better,” says Dabney.

Dabney says the company has so far been pleased with the wireless system, and now plans to deploy the technology for other, process-related applications in its plant. “This is something that could really save us a lot of money and a lot of time going forward,” he concludes.

For more information, search keyword “wireless” at www.automationworld.com.

See sidebar to this article: Look Ma, No Wires (sidebar)

See sidebar to this article: Steel Minimill Goes Wireless