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The semiconductor industry,with its sophisticated high-cost processes and valuable

end product, is driving demand forremote monitoring of pump systems.The technology being developed tomeet this need has obvioustransferability to a wide variety ofindustries, from chemical andpharmaceutical to water and wasteprocessing.

As a major supplier of vacuum pump and abatement systems to the semiconductor industry, BOCEdwards is playing a leading role indeveloping and running remotemonitoring systems. This articleoffers an introduction to the hard-wired systems already in use, andpioneering web-enabled technologyunder consideration by some of theleading players.

Market drivers

Semiconductor fabrication plants run pumps in large numbers – from1,500 to 2,000 pieces of pumping

equipment (including vacuum pumpsand abatement systems) on one site is not uncommon. This creates a very large, critical maintenancerequirement; if a pump goes down, anentire batch of semi-conductorsworth tens of thousands of poundscould be lost.

Automating the monitoring process isattractive because of the scale of thetask, and because close monitoring ofa wide range of operationalparameters can be used to provideearly warning of small events or subtletrends before they develop into majorprocess problems. For example, if thetemperature and pressure inside thechamber are rising and the pump isdrawing more current than normal,this might be as a result of solidresidue building up somewhere andstarting to cause a blockage. Earlywarning allows a controlled shutdownand rectification of the problemwithout loss of production.

The information allows optimizationof servicing schedules too, allowingusers to reduce the cost ofmaintenance and at the same timeincrease the useful life of theequipment. Over the life of a pump,the cost of changing oil and filtersmore often than is really necessarycan be significant. Conversely, ifsuch routine maintenance is notcarried out, operational problems willoccur, and the life of the pump isreduced.

In the semiconductor industry, accessto pump equipment located in a cleanroom or ‘subfab’ environment isanother issue to which remotemonitoring provides a solution.

Similarly in other industries access tothe equipment might be difficult forother reasons; perhaps because of aremote location or difficult ordangerous access.

Technologysolutions

Hardwired networks and associatedsoftware for central monitoring ofpumps and pump systems have beenavailable to the semiconductorindustry since about 1995. Sensorslocated in the equipment are used tomeasure operational parameters suchas temperatures, internal pressure,pressure at exhaust, current beingdrawn, and so on, and all in real timewith the data collected via a digitalnetwork (eg Ethernet, LonWorks).Proprietary software packages presentthis data, allowing the user tocustomise security access, alarmlevels, network configurations andreporting functions.

Now, more players are starting to look at the benefits of true ‘remote’monitoring offered by web-enabledtechnologies.

As early as 1999, the semiconductorindustry began to consider the needfor remote monitoring, and thesecurity issues it raised. By 2000, aworking group led by the US researchand development body SematechCorporation, had agreed on VirtualPrivate Network (VPN) technology(secure pathways through theInternet) as an industry standard. Theleading manufacturers now offer VPNcompatible products and the firstlarge scale systems have been

The benefits of system insightAs more and more industries become interested in the equipment life cycle andwhole process costs, pump monitoring is emerging as an important consideration.Whether it be to monitor for early warning of failure, for optimization of routinemaintenance schedules or as part of an integrated system for processoptimization, Paul Cross argues that the more you know about the operation ofyour pump, the better you can run it.

f e a t u r e e x t e r n a l m o n i t o r i n g

Figure 1. Comparative data analysis of pump performance.

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f e a t u r e e x t e r n a l m o n i t o r i n g

installed and are now operational. Forexample, BOC Edwards installed aremote monitoring system for 2000pumps in a semiconductor fabricationplant in Germany earlier this year.

VPNs are used by all sorts ofcommercial businesses, includingbanks, to enable secure, encryptedconnections for business transactionsand communications.

Remote monitoring via a VPN, or ‘e-diagnostics’ as it is often called in the semiconductor industry, allowsanyone in the organisation with theappropriate security clearance toaccess pump system data using aninternet connection. This includesmaintenance personnel who may beoperating from a central control room on site, from a separate remotelocation, or who may be ‘on call’ out of normal hours and can therefore access the information from home. Similarly, managementcan access the information from their desktop PC or from laptopsanywhere they have an internetconnection.

Interpreting thedata

Remote monitoring offers two keyadvantages; the ability to provide fastresponse to events, and long termanalysis of trends in historical data

in order to predict and manage futureequipment behaviour better.

Once the monitoring system has beenset up and alarm levels set, thenetwork can be extended to includemobile phones and pagers in a cascadeearly warning system that alerts theappropriate maintenance staff, whomay be an in-house team or a thirdparty provider, to a potential problem.Pump status can then be viewedremotely and the first diagnosis madeimmediately. If the decision is madethat it is necessary to send a team tosite, they can arrive armed with theknowledge and equipment for anefficient first-time fix.

Long term trend analysis is a morecomplex process, but one that ispotentially a very powerful tool. Anexpert understanding of both thepump system and the process isnecessary to realise the potential here;the historical data can be used to helpoptimise pump operation, and theprocess itself. Pump monitoringnetworks can be integrated withprocess monitoring systems to provide comprehensive productioninformation for technical manage-ment.

The capability to carry out this level of monitoring from anywhereallows manufacturers to offer comprehensive service packages with predictive maintenance

indication to guarantee very highlevels of up-time.

The future

The development of remote mon-itoring for pump systems is one of themost significant technology advancesthat pump engineers have seen formany years. Although still in itsinfancy, and currently available only to specialist sectors such assemiconductor fabrication, thiscapability will undoubtedly offer awhole range of new possibilities forother processing industries in thefuture. Commercially, the availabilityof 24/7 monitoring opens up newpossibilities for pump manufacturersand their customers in innovativefinancing deals and risk sharing.

Technically, the next step may well be smart pumps with on-boardcomputers and built-in comm-unications so that the entire remotemonitoring function will be based onweb-enabled, wireless technology. Thiswill offer set-up efficiency gains andcost advantages because there is noneed to install a local digital network.Pump engineers will, possibly for thefirst time, have to get used to workingclosely with their colleagues in the ITdepartment.

Paul Cross is the Business SupportManager, Control & NetworkIntegration for BOC Edwards. ■

CONTACTBOC EdwardsManor Royal, CrawleyWest Sussex, RH10 2LW, UKTel: + 44 (0)1293 528844Fax: +44 (0)1293 533453Email: info@bocedwards.com

Figure 2. Displays gauges measuring pump status including, power consumption,temperatures and pressures.

Figure 3. Equipment status showing the relationship between thepump and the process.