Results :
Solution validated, reliable, cost-effective, and ready to be deployed with no impact on production
In a pharmaceutical environment subject to strict traceability requirements, particularly EudraLex Annex 1, RealDev designed and validated a solution enabling real-time flow data acquisition, without modifying critical installations and without interrupting production.
Project context
In the pharmaceutical industry, monitoring critical fluids is essential to:
- ensure regulatory compliance
- guarantee product quality
- improve process traceability
However, our client faced several constraints that limited the implementation of a traditional solution:
- Limited budget
- Very limited shutdown time
- High risk associated with any modification to the existing installations
- Complexity of traditional PLC/GMP solutions
A less intrusive, more agile and economically viable approach was therefore required.
Learn more about EudraLex Annex 1 ->
Project objectives
The objective was to develop a solution capable of:
- automatically collecting flow data
- centralizing the information in a supervision system
- ensuring data reliability and integrity
- avoiding any impact on production
Our approach
We chose a pragmatic approach: validate the solution in the laboratory before deploying it in production.
This allowed us to:
- test without any risk to the site
- validate the technical choices
- demonstrate feasibility to the client
- secure the future deployment
We therefore proposed a simple solution based on an Ewon gateway to retrieve data directly from the sensors.
Solution
RealDev designed an architecture based on proven industrial technologies:
- Prosonic W400 ultrasonic flowmeters
- Modbus RTU communication via RS-485 (multi-device bus)
- Ewon Flexy 202 IIoT gateway
- Ethernet communication to the 3301
- OPC UA server via KepwareEX6
- Data historization in OSI PI
Débitmètres ultrasoniques Prosonic W400
Ewon Flexy 202
KepwareEX6
OSI PI
Results
This laboratory phase demonstrated the robustness and feasibility of the solution before industrial deployment.
The solution was successfully tested in different configurations to secure on-site installation.
Reliable and stable communication
Data exchanges between the flowmeters and the data collection infrastructure, in series and multi-drop configurations, were validated.
Confirmed real-time data acquisition
Real-time data transfer was confirmed via OPC UA, with proven redundancy management.
Optimized infrastructure
The amount of cabling and the number of gateways required were reduced (1 Ethernet cable per building).
Network segmentation helps limit the impact of a communication failure.
