Enclosure Audits
Enclosure Audits by Swagelok Penn
What are Enclosures?
Instrument enclosures are used to house an instrument that measures process conditions, providing a reference for the current state of the process, sometimes part of a control system. The function of an enclosure is to shield the instrument from harsh environmental conditions – not only to maintain operability and service life, but also to allow the instrument to function as efficiently as possible. The enclosure achieves this in several ways:
- Overall seal to the environment (clamshell, entry seal boots, blowdown system)
- Conditioning of process fluid (blowdown valves)
- Proactive freeze protection (heat trace and instrument heater)
- Transmitter operation support (appropriate valve manifold)
In many applications, the fluid to be measured is a liquid that is in need of freeze protection. Other applications include a gas that could also contain water vapor. It is important to keep the gas above the dew point of the water to avoid having condensation form in the impulse lines running from the process to the enclosure, as this could bias the measurement.
What is a Swagelok Enclosure Audit?
Swagelok audits enclosures by examining the enclosure construction and qualifying its components individually and as a whole. Referencing industry standards and expertise, inspection includes but is not limited to the following:
- Organization and categorization of all required enclosures
- Use and installation of electrically heat traced, insulated tubing
- Use of blowdown valves in all enclosures to ensure operator safety during maintenance and operation
- Use of entry seal boots for enclosure penetration
- Temperature rating of valve manifolds and associated components
- Enclosure leakage (general)
- Scratched and gouged tubing
- Manifold, isolation, equalizing and blowdown valve health
- Intermix/interchange of components
What is included in an Enclosure Audit?
Before an Enclosure Audit, you will work with our local Field Engineer to define the scope of the audit. This includes your needs, selection of individual enclosures or areas to be inspected, and overall goals for improving your enclosure systems. During an Enclosure Audit, our Field Engineer will come to your facility and perform an inspection of the key areas you have identified. Upon completion of the session, you will be provided with a summary of overall findings and improvement suggestions for enclosures at your facility.
Why is having a properly functioning enclosure so important?
Enclosures represent an investment in the measurement of the real-time value of process conditions in a plant. Without a properly functioning enclosure, accurate measurement cannot occur, and so process controls cannot be as effective. Processes suffer from lag or worse: plant down time. Similarly, an improperly constructed or aging enclosure can present a serious safety hazard to employees who interact with it. Investment in a properly functioning enclosure is an investment in plant operations and safety.
The local Field Engineering team at Swagelok Penn is well experienced with the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of instrument enclosures. We understand the pain points associated with enclosure operation:
- Do you feel that you spend excessive resources (budget, time) maintaining or replacing the same problem enclosures or components over and over?
- Are enclosure related problems causing headaches or worse – cost from unplanned downtime?
- Are you concerned about the operability of your enclosures? Do you consider them to be a safety hazard?
- Do you have other priorities and day-to-day activities that prevent you from giving your enclosures the attention they deserve?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, we can help by providing a resource to categorize and troubleshoot your enclosures.
Let our Field Engineer come out and take a look
Contact us today to schedule an appointment with our resident Field Engineer.
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