Analog pressure gauge remote reading
A compact camera sits on a mounting plate in front of the pressure gauge you already trust. It photographs the dial on your schedule, and our cloud AI model turns the needle position into a pressure value with a time stamp and the image behind it.
THE PROBLEM
The gauge is fine. Walking to it is the expensive part
Most plants have hundreds of Bourdon tube gauges on headers, filters, pumps and process lines. They are simple, robust and accurate enough for the job, but every reading needs a person to walk there, look, and write a number on a round sheet. Readings get skipped on night shift, transposed on the clipboard, or filled in afterwards.
Swapping a gauge for a pressure transmitter sounds simple until you count the work: a process isolation, a new tapping or manifold, cable back to a panel, an input card and a change to the control system documentation. Multiply that by every gauge on the round and the project stalls.
A camera reading keeps the gauge, the tapping and the pressure boundary exactly as they are. Nothing touches the process, so the change is a mechanical fixing and a commissioning check.
HOW WE SET IT UP
From gauge face to pressure trend
Gauge and light check first
We start with photos of your gauges in their real lighting. Gauge face, scale markings, glass glare and shadow from nearby pipework decide where the camera sits and whether extra lighting is needed.
Plate-mounted camera
A mounting plate fixes the camera at a set distance and angle in front of the dial. It works purely by sight, so the gauge and the line stay exactly as they are.
Scale set per gauge
Each gauge is configured with its range and units, so the model converts needle angle into bar, psi or kPa. The original image is kept with every reading for checking.
Flagged when unsure
If glare, condensation or a hand in front of the lens makes a reading uncertain, the cloud model flags it as low confidence. Your team reviews the image instead of trusting a bad number.
AT A GLANCE
Pressure gauge reading in brief
- What is measured
- Gauge pressure from the needle position, with time stamp and image metadata
- Hardware
- Vision AI optical meter reader on a mounting plate near the gauge
- Reading
- Image sent to the cloud, where the AI model reads the dial and flags low-confidence results
- Power
- Battery, target at least one year at one reading a day. External power for frequent captures
- Data
- MQTT over TLS 1.2 to RIOD Live or your own server. PDF and Excel exports with audit trails
- Local storage
- Up to 25 images held in flash until the network is available
- Site validation
- Gauge face and lighting are validated during the pilot, and accuracy is confirmed on your gauges
FAQ
Questions buyers ask us
Can a camera read an analog pressure gauge accurately?
Yes, when the gauge face is clear and the lighting is controlled. Accuracy depends on the gauge, the mounting and the image quality, so we confirm it on your own gauges during a pilot. Readings the model is unsure of are flagged for a person to check.
Do I need to replace or modify the gauge?
The gauge stays as it is. The camera mounts on a plate in front of the existing gauge and photographs it, so the pressure boundary, tapping and calibration stay as they are.
How often can it read the gauge?
The capture interval is configurable, from once a day to several times a day. On battery the target is at least one year at one reading a day, and external power suits more frequent readings.
What do we get besides the number?
Each reading arrives with its time stamp and the image it came from. Trends, alarms and reports run in RIOD Live or on your own server, with PDF and Excel exports for inspection records.
Want your gauge rounds read remotely?
Send us photos of the gauges as they are mounted today. We will tell you how we would fit the cameras and plan a pilot on your gauges.