All posts by Rich Earle

The most specialised needs catered for, by one supplier

For the many organisations that require some kind of telemetry installation, it may seem clear that highly specialised expertise is required from a company that is dedicated to providing such solutions in their particular industry. After all, they might reason that there can’t possibly be high technology industrial services providers that are equally adept at catering for all of the telemetry needs that firms across so many industries may have – until, that is, they discover Oriel Systems (http://www-orielsystems-com.orielsystems.com).

 

Indeed, Oriel Systems caters for the various industries that could possibly benefit from its expertise in such areas as wireless tank monitoring, from the water and chemical industries to and the oil and gas and printing industries. It is true, too, that the requirements of such firms can drastically vary. A client in the water industry, for instance, may be especially attracted to the idea of an outstation that supports different pumping profiles, depending on their energy tariffs, while printing industry clients need to carefully keep track of levels of printing ink on sites that face great demand from newspapers.

 

Similarly, those in the chemical industry can have such highly specialised needs as the installation of galvanic isolation. Meanwhile, loading/uploading operations in the oil and gas industries have traditionally required two operatives, leading many organisations in these fields to consider a Driver Controlled Delivery (DCD) system that integrates the systems for on-site control, level monitoring and safety with on-site CCTV, so that only one man is required. Matters get even more complicated when it is considered that many organisations have existing telemetry equipment that they have already invested significantly in.

 

What is required by many such firms, then, is a provider of high technology industrial services that can be trusted to cater for these most exacting of needs. They require a company that can provide them with a telemetry or tank monitoring system that has a strong track record with regard to performance and reliability, in the form of a large installed user base worldwide. However, they also need the system to be scalable, cost-effective and quick and easy to install, in the face of ever-heightening national and even global competition. Also welcome is if this company’s products can be connected to existing equipment.

 

Often, it may be assumed that the larger firms with the major track records are those that are less able to respond to the most precise needs pertaining to certain industries – but with more than 25 years of business behind it, Oriel Systems can offer the best of all worlds. It has a highly responsive and professional technical team that is seasoned at working on small and large projects alike, across the various industries. It has a manufacturing, research and development facility in south west England, maintains strategic alliances internationally and even possesses enviable telemetry software expertise.

 

By calling 01249 705070, clients across the aforementioned sectors can discover just how well-placed the telemetry engineers of Oriel Systems (http://www-orielsystems-com.orielsystems.com) are to respond to their most obscure demands.

 

The instrumental role played by the Internet in telemetry solutions

As the highly successful, internationally oriented provider of high technology industrial services that it is, Oriel Systems (http://www-orielsystems-com.orielsystems.com) knows what is required to assemble a truly effective telemetry system, one that delivers cost-efficiency and reliability as well as power. It knows how to create systems that are scalable, as well as that are quick and easy to install and deliver the required results – and the Internet has no small role in ensuring this.

 

Amongst the products that the company is most proud of, for example, are its outstations, with its intelligent video units using the Internet to simultaneously transmit as many as eight live feeds, optionally with audio, from a client’s remote site over long distances. Video can be transmitted by the video streaming unit at various resolutions, from systems that have low network bandwidth to high bandwidth applications that are capable of transmitting video of television quality. Mere 56k connections are required for typical applications, although with the increasing popularity of broadband connections, many remote tank monitoring clients now opt for 256k.

 

Similarly, the Intelligent Telemetry Outstation (ITO) can be connected back to the client’s master station with any of a number of communication transmission options, such as the Internet, meaning that a live feed of what is taking place at the site can be recorded, with any required amount of previously recorded values being sent back. Another key part of any telemetry system is the right software, with Oriel Systems offering both Awax Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) and Awax SCADA software.

 

One option for such software that is proudly offered by Oriel Systems is a hosting service. At a time when many of the organisations that require solutions like wireless tank monitoring are likely to want to outsource certain responsibilities to the maximum extent possible, so that they can focus on their core business, this hosting service gives the engineers of Oriel Systems responsibility for ensuring the continued correct functioning of the system. It means that if any problems do arise with the Awax server, they can be immediately tended to by the right people.

 

The hosting service involves contact being made with each of the client’s sites, with data being uploaded to a secure Internet server. At any time, and from any computer with access to the web, clients can log in to the site and view their data, in addition to graphing data history and trends and downloading the data onto a spreadsheet, if they so wish. Alternatively, the client may choose to have all of their required data regularly updated and forwarded to a smartphone, in keeping with wider mobility trends in the workplace.

 

Whether the client seeks a telemetry installation for the purposes of new housing development and construction, land drainage, oil and gas, printing or chemicals – to name just a few possibilities – they are sure to find that the Oriel Systems (http://www-orielsystems-com.orielsystems.com) technical team can provide them with a perfectly tailored system that also makes the most of the Internet.

 

Some of the lesser-known benefits of Oriel Systems’ services

Oriel Systems (http://www-orielsystems-com.orielsystems.com) has long prided itself on the provision of telemetry systems that are cost-effective, flexible and reliable – and indeed, these are fundamental advantages that are readily understood by all of the firm’s clients, which have included the likes of Unilever, BP and Nordson. What is perhaps less widely appreciated, however, is the company’s ability to cater for even the most specialised of requirements with the most specialised of expertise and resources.

 

After all, it is not every telemetry specialist that has been in business for more than a quarter-century, with all of the knowhow in high technology industrial services that such a period of time has allowed it to accumulate. Nor does every competitor of Oriel Systems provide a hosting service for the AWAX Telemetry or Vendor Managed Inventory systems of its clients.  Such a service relieves clients of the responsibility for checking the continual functioning of the system, with Oriel Systems engineers instead being immediately informed of any problems that arise.

 

It can also be easily forgotten that Oriel Systems provides a wide range of outstation communication options, including GSM, GPRS, 3G, PSTN or even standard telephone provider landline or broadband. There are also many signal inputs to which the company’s modular Intelligent Telemetry Outstations can be connected, including Digital Inputs (volts free contracts) or Analogue Inputs (4-20mA, 0-5V, 0-10V) from Radar, Ultrasonic level sensors, Hydrostatic pressure transducers and Guided Microwave sensing equipment.

 

It is also possible to bring Counter Frequency Inputs into the system, for example from pumps, so that the number of strokes the pump has cycled can be measured to produce an accurate product movement or consumption figure, where the amount of liquid that is moved by the pump per cycle is known. Control Outputs can be an invaluable part of tank monitoring, allowing for control functions like the opening or closing of valves, the starting and stopping of pumps and the opening and closing of penstocks to be remotely performed.

 

There are also various specific benefits that an Oriel Systems telemetry installation can bring in the context of the specific industries in which clients work, with those in the water industry, for example, likely to appreciate the support that the outstation provides for different pumping profiles on the basis of their energy tariffs. This allows for reductions on energy usage expenditure and the remote changing of pump control settings, the latter removing the need for costly site visits. Meanwhile, clients in the oil and gas industries may be thankful for the local, on-site storage of all video feeds for the last three days, meaning that should an “event” occur, it can be downloaded and saved onto a computer for future review and analysis of procedures to minimise the risk of a repeat.

 

Oriel Systems’ (http://www-orielsystems-com.orielsystems.com) highly professional technical staff members are continually ready to speak to prospective clients about the nature of their project and accompanying telemetry software and hardware requirements.

 

How Oriel Systems applies its expertise across many different industries

An emphasis on cost-effectiveness, reliability and scalability has helped to make Oriel Systems (http://www-orielsystems-com.orielsystems.com) the go-to source of telemetry systems assistance and expertise over many years. Such a specialised field as telemetry is one in which the chosen technology services provider needs to be trustworthy, and the backing that Oriel Systems has won from such past and present clients as Unilever, Virgin, BP and Nestle signals the esteem in which it is widely held.

 

Much of Oriel Systems’ present reputation rests on its proven ability to provide telemetry solutions that are powerful, flexible and useful for a wide range of industries. Whatever the size and nature of the project, many of those firms that require solutions like wireless tank monitoring know that Oriel Systems has a ‘hands on’ technical team that is able to listen to and cater for any of a broad range of requirements. The systems are quick, easy and inexpensive to install, and customer support can be provided over the phone or in the form of the remote control of systems.

 

It is especially insightful, however, to consider how specific industries have benefitted from Oriel Systems’ expertise in remote monitoring systems in very specific ways. Organisations in the water industry, for example, appreciate the provision of an intelligent outstation that provides for a remote site’s total autonomy, with the Control Algorithm that is agreed upon between the customer and Oriel Systems’ engineers the basis on which all functions can be automatically performed. There is also support from the outstation for different pumping profiles, depending on the energy tariffs of the customer, which means that savings on energy usage can be made.

 

Oriel Systems also serves the chemical industry, offering a range of sensors from the Ultrasonic or Radar to a Guided Microwave or pressure transducer. The company specialises in the supply, installation and commissioning of level sensing equipment from the best-regarded manufacturers, and if required, can also install galvanic isolation. Many organisations from the oil and gas industries also approach Oriel Systems with the goal of halving the number of operatives that are required for loading and unloading operations, from two to one – as is possible when the on-site control, level monitoring and safety systems are integrated with on-site CCTV, courtesy of Oriel Systems’ Driver Controlled Delivery (DCD) system.

 

Finally, assistance has also long been provided by Oriel Systems to the printing industry, which can be vital given how expensive a commodity ink is. A Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) solution, consisting of an intelligent telemetry outstation at the customer sites, ensures that the levels in several tanks can be constantly monitored. This means that in the event of unexpected overnight usage resulting in the tank level dropping below a pre-defined limit, the system can override everything and issue an alert to the supplier. This is just one more of the many ways in which solutions from Oriel Systems (http://www-orielsystems-com.orielsystems.com) have long catered to common and uncommon requirements across relevant industries.

 

How Oriel Systems improves each aspect of a telemetry installation

In order for the readings of an instrument to be recorded and transmitted by radio, certain critical equipment is required as part of the complete telemetry installation. With many public and private sector organisations in the likes of the chemical, water, oil and gas and printing industries not having the luxury to employ as many people as they once did amid constant searches for greater efficiencies, a company like Oriel Systems (http://www-orielsystems-com.orielsystems.com) has a key role to play in providing truly cost-effective, reliable and scalable systems.

 

The complete set of equipment that makes up telemetry solutions includes the sensors that measure a value obtained at the remote site, as well as the telemetry outstation that collects information on a 24 hours a day basis from all of the sensors that are to be found on a particular remote site. Also necessary is some communications method by which the information that the outstation collects can be relayed back to the main office, as well as a software application that makes sense of the information that the main office PC receives from the various sites.

 

Keeping track of all of this equipment can be difficult, and some of it may need upgrading or otherwise replacing sooner than anticipated. Clients of telemetry systems often turn to Oriel Systems in the knowledge that the company makes possible connections to all manner of remote plant and equipment, including the telemetry equipment of other suppliers. This level of dedication to precise customer technical requirements is possible due to the firm’s combination of more than a quarter-century of continuous operation and a sophisticated manufacturing, research and development facility in south west England.

 

Such a high level of dedication is widely appreciated by clients including the likes of Unilever, Roche, Virgin, BP and ChickMaster, not least as it repeatedly removes the need for prior investment to be thrown out. Alternatively, the client may need to expand rapidly in response to unpredictably fluctuating requirements, and these can be similarly accommodated, as Oriel Systems’ solutions have been designed to be as scalable as possible, with there being no need for the client to pay for a system that it does not need. These remote tank monitoring systems can also be installed quickly and easily, minimising the necessary labour, manpower and start-up and operational costs.

 

From intelligent video units that are capable of transmitting as many as 8 live feeds – optionally with audio – simultaneously over long distances online, to AWAX software that is being continually developed to keep pace with recent technological trends like greater live video streaming and more online integration, Oriel Systems (http://www-orielsystems-com.orielsystems.com) knows how to both upgrade existing systems and develop entirely new ones. Its technical team is constantly on hand to discuss all manner of specialised requirements for remote monitoring systems.

 

What should firms know about Oriel Systems’ telemetry software consultants?

Not many companies that would seem to specialise in telemetry and remote tank monitoring have their own in-house developers testing and delivering working software, let alone actually being directly available over the phone to prospective and current clients by day. And yet, that is precisely what Oriel Systems (http://www-orielsystems-com.orielsystems.com) can offer, which goes some way to explaining why such major names as Virgin, BP and Unilever have trusted the company to provide scalable, dependable and truly effective systems.

 

Nor is the pedigree and experience level of the company’s telemetry software consultants exactly common, with the company having been developing software for Windows since that operating system’s early days. Such specialists know full well of the wide range of highly specialised technical requirements that clients can have across the likes of the chemical, printing, oil and gas and water industries. From its manufacturing, research and development facility in south west England, Oriel Systems has its software consultants working closely with its other professionals.

 

The result is the hard-earned reputation that Oriel Systems now enjoys as a successful and dynamic provider of high technology industrial services that has been in business for more than a quarter-century. Prospective and current telemetry clients can soon find out for themselves about the expertise, friendliness and flexibility of these software consultants, by contacting them directly – as can be done by phone or fax, as well as by email outside of normal hours. For both small and large projects, Oriel Systems’ software consultants can analyse individual needs before developing a solution around it and testing and delivering a working project.

 

The close and highly functional relationship between the clients of Oriel Systems and its software consultants does not cease at the delivery stage, as such professionals will also want to ensure maximum client satisfaction, and can also be called upon in the future to provide vital backup and support. As time is money for the many organisations that could possibly require telemetry solutions, any new software development takes place rapidly, with the benefit of the most recent techniques, programming languages and testing methods.

 

The expertise of Oriel Systems’ software consultants extends to the development of both simple user interfaces and more complicated functions for measurement and analysis that allow for collected data to be trended and graphed. Clients may have intelligent devices or remote plant/equipment of their own, and the experts at Oriel Systems can work around these elements if needed, developing software interfaces that can be seamlessly integrated with them.

 

These strengths only continue to build on an impeccable track record for the development of telemetry and data acquisition software that significantly supports a company’s operations, both now and for many years into the future. The Oriel Systems (http://www-orielsystems-com.orielsystems.com) technical team is available now to discuss any organisation’s telemetry needs.

 

How has Oriel Systems inspired years of client loyalty

Having been established more than 25 years ago now, it’s clear that in such a fast-moving field as telemetry, Oriel Systems (http://www-orielsystems-com.orielsystems.com) has mastered the art of adapting to client requirements over an extended time period. Today, the company is a provider of high technology industrial services with a reputation paralleled by few others in its field… but still knows how to take even the most basic steps to keep its clients on board.

 

The range of past and present Oriel Systems customers is a vast one, including both instantly recognisable household names and those brands that have more of an industry-level reputation. Nonetheless, from Virgin, BP and Unilever to AAK, Federal Mogul and KSB, it’s clear that a great number of organisations – in both the public and private sector – have placed their trust in Oriel Systems’ highly dependable, scalable and effective telemetry solutions.

 

Such organisations, which also include the likes of Roche, Thermo, SunChemical, Nestle and Oxfordshire County Council, are attracted by the very fact that there are so many others like them. The satisfied large installed user base across the world is a clear sign of the standard of the company’s telemetry installation services. It goes without saying that such an all-encompassing user base has a wide range of highly specialised needs, and Oriel Systems has a strong record of catering for projects of varying levels of technical complexity.

 

Telemetry systems from Oriel Systems can be integrated with all manner of existing equipment, which is appreciated by the many organisations that have already invested significantly in telemetry from other suppliers. Organisations know that the ease of installation of these systems saves them labour and manpower, also reducing both start-up and operational costs. They are also aware that the scalability of Oriel Systems’ solutions allows them to add to or remove from their systems in line with changing requirements, meaning that they are not paying for anything that they do not need.

 

The name ‘Oriel Systems’ has equal renown across the water, chemical, oil and gas, mining and pharmaceuticals industries, making it the first company to which many firms turn – as well as one of the most frequently recommended. Not only are the systems themselves perfectly suited to many different needs, but the firm’s personnel also care for these needs at every stage of the client relationship. Throughout the working day, these staff members are available to discuss any project on the phone, while much ongoing customer support is provided via the remote control of customer systems.

 

All of these factors have helped to make Oriel Systems (http://www-orielsystems-com.orielsystems.com) a first port of call for many companies that do not wish to worry about their remote monitoring systems – and that reputation only continues to grow as the firm finds new ways to improve the end customer experience.

 

The essentials of Oriel Systems’ AWAX software

Oriel Systems (http://www-orielsystems-com.orielsystems.com) makes the most of expertise in telemetry solutions gathered over decades of operation to design systems that are affordable, reliable and cost-effective. Above all, though, its solutions are effective in the industry of the client for which they have been designed, whether it is the water industry, chemical industry, oil and gas industry or printing industry – and the right software plays a big role in ensuring that.

 

Regardless of the most specialised needs, a telemetry installation consists of several vital elements, including the sensors, outstation, communications and software. With so much information being collected by the outstation and relayed back to the PC in the main office, it’s clear that a software application is required for unravelling it. Telemetry software on the main office PC has the role of making sense of the information that is brought from the remote sites. Presentation of the information occurs in a pictorial format, meaning that observations to ensure correct site operation can be quickly and simply made.

 

However, in addition to video, intelligent and low power outstations, the sought-after products of Oriel Systems include Awax VMI and SCADA software. The former is simply a necessary investment for any client that wishes to easily and confidently monitor and control remote sites. In a world in which remote working is becoming very much the norm, clients are also likely to appreciate the option to have the system hosted by Oriel Systems itself, so that it can be accessed via the Internet.

 

VMI stands for Vendor Managed Inventory Solution, and the Awax VMI software is flexible, open and expandable, being designed for an industrial environment in which remote data collection, monitoring and control is required. It is invaluable as a means of keeping critical stocking levels at customer sites across the world efficiently monitored. Not only can delivery dates and times be accurately predicted by the VMI solution, but calculation of the actual amount delivered is also possible – even if consumption is yet to take place. For each delivery, an invoice can then be automatically sent out.

 

Oriel Systems’ Awax SCADA telemetry software, meanwhile, has been developed by the company and continually enhanced to keep it up to date with the most recent technological developments. It connects, in a sophisticated but cost-effective manner, with Oriel Systems’ own range of remote units, in addition to most PLC systems and various other hardware types, including the remote units of other vendors. It removes the need for customers to replace their existing remote units and incur additional cost, instead simply upgrading them.

 

Prospective users of telemetry systems are urged to get in touch today with the friendly and capable team at Oriel Systems (http://www-orielsystems-com.orielsystems.com) to discuss their more precise technical requirements with regard to efficient, tailored and affordable tank monitoring.

 

Distinguishing between the video, intelligent and low power outstation

Any successful telemetry installation depends greatly on the incorporation of the right telemetry outstation, which is also referred to as a Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) and is the data collection advice that gathers information from all of the sensors located at its given remote site, on a 24 hours a day basis. Certainly, having been operating for more than 25 years now, Oriel Systems (http://www-orielsystems-com.orielsystems.com) is more than seasoned at advising firms on their remote monitoring requirements and the role that the right outstation can play in meeting them.

 

Visitors to the Oriel Systems website who are in need of remote tank monitoring systems that fulfil their requirements are advised to familiarise themselves with the various types of telemetry outstation that may be relevant to their industry. Oriel Systems serves organisations overseeing small and large projects in the water, oil and gas, chemical and printing industries, and knows how to implement a solution that is high-performing, dependable, scalable and cost-effective from the beginning of the client relationship.

 

One of the telemetry solutions with these qualities that Oriel Systems has developed is a video outstation that can transmit as much as 8 live feeds – with optimal audio – simultaneously from a remote site, using the Internet to transmit over long distances. Video can be transmitted by the video streaming unit at various resolutions, from systems with low network bandwidth to high bandwidth applications that make possible the transmission of video of television quality. Oriel Systems Awax telemetry software means that clients can remotely monitor and control cameras at the same time as they monitor and control other onsite functions.

 

Of course, another solution that Oriel Systems offers is the Intelligent Telemetry Outstation (ITO). One can programme this Unit for the monitoring and control of plant equipment at a remote site, with the option of having it attached to various types of IO module or even PLCs or other intelligent devices. This allows for the system to be fully configured for a given site. Even the client that already has specialist hardware of its own can take advantage of the ITO. That’s because Oriel Systems has the in-house expertise to modify the unit so that it can be connected to the aforementioned hardware.

 

When the ITO is connected back to the client’s master station, they are able to choose from various options for communication transmission, including PSTN (land-line), Low Power radio (licensed as well as unlicensed), Internet, satellite or GSM/GPRS mobile. The telemetry outstations of various other manufacturers can be communicated with, while the unit is able to report a live feed of on-site events. This simply leaves the low power outstation, which has been designed with small solar panel and/or mini-windmill power in mind. It generates its own 24 volt power supply, courtesy of an internal charge pump.

 

Organisations are encouraged to contact Oriel Systems (http://www-orielsystems-com.orielsystems.com) now for more in-depth information about how their technical requirements for remote data acquisition can be met.

Editor’s Note: Oriel

 

Tank Monitoring

Oriel systems has recently completed a remote tank monitoring system for a thin film, foils and foil laminate manufacturer in based in South Wales whose products are widely used throughout the world in the graphics, packaging and labelling industries.

The customer has a tank farm containing Hexane, Xylene, Acetone, Toluene and other hazardous chemicals some 1Km distant at the rear of the manufacturing plant and there was no other way to obtain the levels of the tank contents other than to manually dip the tanks.  In many cases once the dipstick was withdrawn, the level would no longer be visible due to volatility of the chemical, this added to the fact that the chemicals stored on site are highly flammable made the operation a hazardous one.

 

The customer wanted a safe and reliable method of obtaining current stock levels of the chemicals used in their manufacturing process, without the need to physically dip the tanks and cause a potential hazard to their staff.  As the manufacturing operates 24hours a day they also wanted to monitor use-age of each chemical and predict potential stock-out situations before they occur.

 

Oriel proposed using guided microwave sensors as they are virtually unaffected by changes to product or process like temperature, pressure, density, conductivity, vapours or dust.  They are also extremely reliable with no moving parts, no re-calibration no floats to stick.   Accurate to 2mm and ATEX approved.  The sensors work by transmitting microwave radar pulses, which are ‘guided’ along a cable suspended from top to bottom of a vessel. These pulses travel along the length of the cable and are reflected back when they reach the surface of the liquid.  The sensors were fitted into the removable man-way cover at the top of the tank and then cabled back to a galvanic separator and then into one of Oriels’ Intelligent Telemetry Outstations or ITO’s.

 

The outstation collects current values from each sensor every 15seconds and stores the data in it’s internal memory.  Oriels’ ITO has an inbuilt Ethernet connection and all current tank level information is then passed along the ITW internal communications network for viewing on any PC.  Alternatively we could host the information on our Web Server and make it available on a password protected web page for viewing from any internet connected PC, tablet or smartphone.

 

However big or small your project, our technical team would be pleased to discuss your application.  Please call us on  01249 705070 or e-mail us for further information