Remote monitoring of pressure swing adsorption units

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10994240-B2
Application number	US-201816133623-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 17, 2018
Priority date	Sep 18, 2017
Publication date	May 4, 2021
Grant date	May 4, 2021

Abstract

A piece of equipment commonly used in many petrochemical and refinery processes is a pressure swing adsorption (PSA) unit. A PSA unit may be used to recover and purify hydrogen process streams, such as from hydrocracking and hydrotreating process streams. Aspects of the present disclosure are directed to monitoring PSA unit processes for potential and existing issues, providing alerts, and/or adjusting operating conditions to optimize PSA unit life. There are many process performance indicators that may be monitored including, but not limited to, flow rates, chemical analyzers, temperature, and/or pressure. In addition, valve operation may be monitored, including opening speed, closing speed, and performance. The system may adjust one or more operating characteristics to decrease the difference between the actual operating performance in the recent and the optimal operating performance.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
one or more sensors configured to measure operating information for a PSA unit;
a data collection platform comprising:
one or more processors of the data collection platform;
a communication interface in communication with the one or more sensors; and
memory storing executable instructions that, when executed, cause the data collection platform to:
receive sensor data from the one or more sensors;
correlate the sensor data with metadata comprising time data; and
transmit the sensor data;

a data analysis platform comprising:
one or more processors of the data analysis platform; and
memory storing executable instructions that, when executed, cause the data analysis platform to:
receive the sensor data from the data collection platform;
analyze the sensor data;
transmit the sensor data and calculations to a dashboard;
based on the analyzed sensor data, send a command for an adjustment to an operating condition related to the PSA unit;
based on the sensor data from the one or more sensors, predict a remaining life of a valve of the PSA unit; and
based on the predicted remaining life of the valve of the PSA unit, generate a recommendation for a maintenance to be performed on the valve of the PSA unit; and

a control platform comprising:
one or more processors of the control platform; and
memory storing executable instructions that, when executed, cause the control platform to:
receive the command for the adjustment to the operating condition related to the PSA unit; and
adjust an element of the PSA unit based on the command for the adjustment to the operating condition.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the memory of the data analysis platform stores instructions that, when executed, cause the data analysis platform to:
based on the sensor data from the one or more sensors, identify a change in an operating condition of a valve of the PSA unit relative to a same operating condition of a different valve of the PSA unit; and
send a command to change an operating parameter of the valve of the PSA unit.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the memory of the data analysis platform stores instructions that, when executed, cause the data analysis platform to:
based on the sensor data from the one or more sensors, identify a step change in an operating condition of a valve of the PSA unit relative to a historical operating condition of the valve of the PSA unit; and
send a command to change an operating parameter of the valve of the PSA unit.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the memory of the data analysis platform stores instructions that, when executed, cause the data analysis platform to:
perform heuristic analysis on the sensor data from the one or more sensors to determine a recommendation for a maintenance to be performed on the PSA unit.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the memory of the data analysis platform stores instructions that, when executed, cause the data analysis platform to:
use the sensor data from the one or more sensors to predict an upcoming maintenance requirement for the PSA unit.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the memory of the data analysis platform stores instructions that, when executed, cause the data analysis platform to:
use the sensor data from the one or more sensors to monitor equipment health of the PSA unit.

7. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause a system to:
receive sensor data from one or more sensors configured to measure operating information for a PSA unit;
correlate the sensor data with metadata comprising time data;
analyze the sensor data;
transmit the sensor data and calculations to a dashboard;
based on the analyzed sensor data, send a command for an adjustment to an operating condition related to the PSA unit;
based on the sensor data from the one or more sensors, predict a remaining life of a valve of the PSA unit; and
based on the predicted remaining life of the valve of the PSA unit, generate a recommendation for a maintenance to be performed on the valve of the PSA unit.

8. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the system to:
based on the sensor data from the one or more sensors, identify a change in an operating condition of a valve of the PSA unit relative to a same operating condition of a different valve of the PSA unit; and
send a command to change an operating parameter of the valve of the PSA unit.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the system to:
based on the sensor data from the one or more sensors, identify a step change in an operating condition of a valve of the PSA unit relative to a historical operating condition of the valve of the PSA unit; and
send a command to change an operating parameter of the valve of the PSA unit.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the system to:
perform heuristic analysis on the sensor data from the one or more sensors to determine a recommendation for a maintenance to be performed on the PSA unit.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the system to:
use the sensor data from the one or more sensors to predict an upcoming maintenance requirement for the PSA unit.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the system to:
use the sensor data from the one or more sensors to monitor equipment health of the PSA unit.

13. A method comprising:
receiving, by a data analysis computing device, sensor data for a sensor associated with a PSA unit;
based on analyzing the sensor data, determining a current operating condition for an element of the PSA unit;
determining a difference between the current operating condition for the element of the PSA unit and an optimal operating condition for the element of the PSA unit;
displaying the difference between the current operating condition and the optimal operating condition on a dashboard outlining recommendations for adjustments to the element of the PSA unit;
based on the analyzed sensor data, determining a command for adjusting the element of the PSA unit to reduce the difference between the current operating condition and the optimal operating condition;
sending the command for adjusting the element of the PSA unit;
based on the sensor data from the one or more sensors, predict a remaining life of a valve of the PSA unit; and
based on the predicted remaining life of the valve of the PSA unit, generate a recommendation for a maintenance to be performed on the valve of the PSA unit.

14. The method of claim 13 , comprising:
based on the sensor data from the sensor associated with the PSA unit, identifying a change in an operating condition of a valve of the PSA unit relative to a same operating condition of a different valve of the PSA unit; and
sending a command to change an operating parameter of the valve of the PSA unit.

15. The method of claim 13 , comprising:
based on the sensor data from the sensor associated with the PSA unit, identifying a step change in an operating condition of a valve of the PSA unit relative to a historical operating condition of the valve of the PSA unit; and
sending a command to change an operating parameter of the valve of the PSA unit.

Assignees

• Uop Llc

Inventors

• Bjorklund Chad E
• Kelley Stephen
• Guenther Jeffrey
• Mccool Ryan

Classifications

• B01D53/047 Primary

  Pressure swing adsorption · CPC title

• B01D2259/40007

  Controlling pressure or temperature swing adsorption · CPC title

• B01D2256/18

  Noble gases · CPC title

• B01D53/0423

  Beds in columns · CPC title

• B01D53/0446

  Means for feeding or distributing gases · CPC title