Case study
A 1970s boiler brought onto the dashboard
Natural gasBuilding Materials, Concrete & AggregatesManufacturing: automotive, plastics & rubber
A fifty-year-old boiler connected through its existing 4-20 mA output, with its controls left in place.
An older boiler had an analog output but no connection to the factory’s monitoring systems. We read that existing signal through an industrial gateway, bringing the asset onto the dashboard while leaving its controls in place.
What the data showed
Explore the chart to inspect the readings.
| Interval | Boiler 1 firing rate (%) |
|---|---|
| 00:00 | 35 |
| 00:30 | 37 |
| 01:00 | 35 |
| 01:30 | 32 |
| 02:00 | 33 |
| 02:30 | 32 |
| 03:00 | 33 |
| 03:30 | 32 |
| 04:00 | 35 |
| 04:30 | 35 |
| 05:00 | 34 |
| 05:30 | 32 |
| 06:00 | 60 |
| 06:30 | 58 |
| 07:00 | 60 |
| 07:30 | 60 |
| 08:00 | 56 |
| 08:30 | 57 |
| 09:00 | 59 |
| 09:30 | 58 |
| 10:00 | 57 |
| 10:30 | 55 |
| 11:00 | 60 |
| 11:30 | 57 |
| 12:00 | 57 |
| 12:30 | 56 |
| 13:00 | 57 |
| 13:30 | 61 |
| 14:00 | 60 |
| 14:30 | 59 |
| 15:00 | 57 |
| 15:30 | 56 |
| 16:00 | 60 |
| 16:30 | 56 |
| 17:00 | 59 |
| 17:30 | 59 |
| 18:00 | 33 |
| 18:30 | 36 |
| 19:00 | 35 |
| 19:30 | 37 |
| 20:00 | 32 |
| 20:30 | 33 |
| 21:00 | 33 |
| 21:30 | 33 |
| 22:00 | 32 |
| 22:30 | 32 |
| 23:00 | 32 |
| 23:30 | 32 |
| Before | An asset invisible to every system in the factory |
|---|---|
| After | An asset on the same dashboard as everything else |
Background
A heavy manufacturing factory has a boiler that predates the facility’s networks. The equipment still has an analog output, but its operation is absent from the systems the team uses to review the rest of the factory. Our integration starts with the signal already available at the boiler.
The problem
The boiler has no network tag or communication protocol that fits the factory’s systems, and the original vendor is no longer available to help. That leaves an operating asset outside the shared view. The team needs a way to read its behaviour without making the existing controls part of the integration work.
How we found it
We read the existing analog output through a transmitter and an industrial gateway with local buffering. Firing-rate and gas-flow trends bring the boiler’s operation into view over time. The connection uses what the asset can already provide, so the monitoring has a defined signal to work from rather than depending on a replacement control system.
What changed
The boiler appears on the same dashboard as the other equipment. Its controls remain untouched. The team can review how it is firing and follow the gas-flow trend alongside the rest of the facility’s readings.
The lesson
Check an older asset’s available outputs before choosing a connection. Here, the gateway brings the existing analog signal into the dashboard while the boiler continues using its original controls.
What changed
Before
An asset invisible to every system in the factory
After
An asset on the same dashboard as everything else
4-20 mAintegration
Existing analog output read directly; no controls were touched.
Where to go next
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