MS-BWME: a wireless real-time monitoring system for brine well mining equipment

This paper describes a wireless real-time monitoring system (MS-BWME) to monitor the running state of pumps equipment in brine well mining and prevent potential failures that may produce unexpected interruptions with severe consequences. MS-BWME consists of two units: the ZigBee Wireless Sensors Network (WSN) unit and the real-time remote monitoring unit. MS-BWME was implemented and tested in sampled brine wells mining in Qinghai Province and four kinds of indicators were selected to evaluate the performance of the MS-BWME, i.e., sensor calibration, the system's real-time data reception, Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) and sensor node lifetime. The results show that MS-BWME can accurately judge the running state of the pump equipment by acquiring and transmitting the real-time voltage and electric current data of the equipment from the spot and provide real-time decision support aid to help workers overhaul the equipment in a timely manner and resolve failures that might produce unexpected production down-time. The MS-BWME can also be extended to a wide range of equipment monitoring applications.