Exelon uses IoT Wireless Gauge Readers to implement Condition Based Maintenance

Posted June 30th 2020

Exelon’s massive Calvert Cliffs Nuclear plant was built in the 1970’s.   It is hard to remember, but that was a time before the internet and cell phones, and even before digital sensors.  It is a marvel of engineering so much was accomplished using mechanical, analog, and pneumatic technology to deliver reliable and safe power over so many years.  But such a plant requires intensive manual labor to operate.  It is prohibitively disruptive and costly to upgrade to modern digital technology. 

In 2017, Exelon partnered with Cypress Envirosystems to deploy non-invasive IoT sensors to “digitalize” the plant – they can be installed in minutes at a fraction of the cost of conventional technologies.  Once installed, plant systems can be remotely monitored to enable “Condition Based Maintenance”.

Tim Baugher and Bill Ansley from Exelon documented how the Cypress IoT sensors enabled early detection of faults in the plant’s feedwater control system.  This allowed preventive maintenance work to correct the problem in a timely manner and avoid costly last-minute repairs or unplanned downtime.

Read Bill Ansley’s case study here:

https://www.cypressenvirosystems.com/files/pdf/Exelon%20Case%20Study%20-%20Calvert%20Cliffs%20AOV%20Fault%20Detection%20using%20WGR.pdf