Intro
ASCO, an organisation with global expertise in the area of oil and gas materials and equipment management wanted to monitor cranes loads in their supply base locations around the world.
Load Monitoring Systems (LMS), a specialist in monitoring loads, took on the project and developed a custom load link system. They used LMS manufactured Load Cells, Mantracourt’s T24 wireless telemetry instrumentation and strain gauges by industry-leading manufacturer Micro-Measurements for the job.
The logistics and materials management company ASCO has sites all over the world, many of which experience extreme weather conditions. The application was a test for the reliability of all components in the system. It was installed a number of years ago and continues to prove its quality to date with faultless service.
ASCO operate cranes in a number of supply bases, from Hammerfest in Norway to Darwin in Australia. Load Monitoring Systems (LMS) used Mantracourt’s T24 wireless strain transmission module, and Micro-Measurements strain gauges, on their manufactured load cells to meet the requirements. The system has proved its quality by overcoming the challenges of the application, something the previous generation of solutions were unable to achieve.
The nature of the application meant that large distances had to be covered reliably by the system. Signal integrity had to be sufficient for the system to continue functioning at times when the line of sight between the load links and the receivers was obstructed by the body of the ships.
Furthermore, the application required that the data from the readings is easily visible from anywhere on the base – not just the control room. This way, supervisors would be able to monitor weights as they coordinate loading operations.
The system, designed, manufactured and assembled by LMS, picked up the signal from T24 transmission modules in load links and pushed it to the web. This allowed for readings to be monitored using any cellular enabled device by accessing a dedicated web address. Overload warnings were in place as well, which simplified monitoring.
The JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) input, provided by Mantracourt’s T24LOG100 web server, is an ideal way of monitoring device readings in applications with lower levels of complexity. A link with visual interface is automatically generated by the software. JSON packages containing the key information around a reading are also available to feed customised web interfaces.
The web view can be made accessible either from the same network, or forwarded to the internet, as was the case with Load Monitoring Systems’ project.
The T24 technology has successfully proved itself in the face of the challenges offered by the application.
The first of ASCO’s systems has now been in service for a number of years. The pilot project was, furthermore, replicated in an additional three locations for the company.
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