By David Chambers OBE. FCIM - member of the Initial Steering committee of the Institute of Local Exhaust Ventilation Engineers (ILEVE).
It is estimated that every year some 12,000 people die or suffer long-term ill health due to exposure to pollutants encountered on the factory floor.
This staggering number never hits the headlines as the lead-time between initial exposure and death is often many years. This contrasts sharply with “crash, bang, wallop” accidents that hit the front pages immediately and consequently generate immediate concern.
When vision cameras started out on production lines, they were often used in isolation simply to inspect the final product at the end of the line. Whilst this would ensure that only compliant items were delivered to the customer, it allowed a significant amount of resource to be spent on a product through its different stages that effectively could end up as waste.
Tank cleaning as a virtue Peter Rose, Marketing & Communications Manager, Alfa Laval Limited
According to Sinner’s Circle ( Fig. 1) there are four parameters in any cleaning process that define the protocol and determine its efficiency: Temperature, Chemistry, Mechanical action and Time. For any cleaning process to be completely successful, these four factors should be in balance. If, for instance, the cleaning fluid’s temperature or volume is reduced, one or more of the other parameters has to be altered to restore the balance, otherwise the cleaning process will become less efficient, either in effect or cost; or both. This applies to the internal cleaning of tanks and other vessels as much as to any other cleaning operation and can be the key to achieving maximum storage or mixing efficiency with the least risk of contamination. So how is this balance best achieved? What are the options available for cleaning tanks and vessels internally?
Transferring existing applications from one SCADA system to another tends to be associated with intensive engineering operations and thereby high costs. However, this is not the case if the procedure takes a methodological approach, if developers of the source and target system assume responsibility for the migration, and if this procedure is predominantly automated, thus ensuring a fast, smooth and consistently reliable transfer.
In the majority of applications where gaseous or liquid filtration is used, applying low levels of heat solves tricky issues with condensation, viscosity and flow.
Filtration system users often face difficult choices and have to make compromises when deciding how to heat their filters. Many of the current solutions provide a short operating life and could pose various health and safety risks.
In this white paper we will explore some of the choices available, the key issues to consider, and look at how users of filtration systems can solve these issues.
The benefits from consistent use of standard Ethernet IEEE 802.3 networks
The concept of Automation IT is having a tremendous impact on the market because it has concentrated discussions about the use of Ethernet in industry on the most important factor: the benefits to the customer. These benefits result from the consistent use of standard Ethernet IEEE 802.3 networks. In automation applications, it is essential that features such as deterministic data transport are incorporated: something that cannot be achieved by using the switching technology used in standard Ethernet systems. In reality, the customer benefits of Automation IT can only be realised by adding a new dimension to standard Ethernet: The new Fast Track Switching Technology (FTS) described in this article.
Industrial companies across the UK have until 30 September to register for the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC). This is a landmark date for companies to ensure they avoid the potential fines of late registration. However, as Mark Chrimes, Product Manager for Siemens Industry Automation & Drive Technologies discusses, this is just the starting point and for those who prepare well, the CRC offers great opportunities.
High and low temperature pumping environments have long posed particular problems for pump engineers. The default position for many is to opt for either a metal ring seal or even seal-less pump design. Yet there’s no getting away from the benefits of elastomers seals in reducing pump wear and operational performance. John Kerwin, Materials Technology Manager with Precision Polymer Engineering reports on how new elastomer seals are coming to the aid of pump manufacturers and engineers facing high and low temperature pumping.
If there is one thing that can be accurately predicted, it is that energy costs are going to go up significantly over the short and medium term. And with energy a major cost in many process industries, managers must take efficiency far more seriously if they are to remain competitive, says Andy Parker-Bates of Parker SSD Drives.
High accuracy level measurement technologies for the process industry
In this article Catrine Bengtsson, Process Level, Emerson Process Management, reviews some of the high accuracy level measurement technologies and looks at where they could be used in the process industry.
Paul Fears, Managing Director, Eriez Magnetics Europe Ltd
Abstract The magnetic treatment of industrial minerals is conducted in both wet and dry processes. The decision to process wet or dry is determined by one of two factors; how the end customer wishes to receive the material or the process route needed to achieve the end customer specification. In many cases, non metallic mineral processors prefer to process in a dry state, but the present technology only enables purification when as a slurry. This especially applies when dealing with material with finer particle sizes such as kaolin or calcium carbonate. This paper discusses three magnetic separation techniques presently used to treat dry non-metallic minerals, specifically looking at fine particle processing.
