Leader in steam, air, and hot water joins #wireless body!

The ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute has announced that Armstrong International, a leader in steam, gas, and hot water systems, has joined the ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute.

“Adopting ISA100 Wireless was a simple decision for us,” said Kerry Phillips, Global Manager of Smart Services Group, Armstrong International. “We are confident about the reliability, interoperability and scalability offered by ISA100 Wireless. It is a well-constructed, user-defined wireless standard that offers great ROI for suppliers.”

A thriving company for more than 100 years, Armstrong International delivers intelligent solutions that improve utility performance, lower energy consumption, and reduce environmental emissions. Armstrong International operates across many industries, including hydrocarbon and chemical processing, pharmaceutical, institutional campuses, healthcare, and food and beverage processing.

“Armstrong International’s products will round out the ISA100 Wireless product portfolio for steam, air and hot water applications,” said Andre Ristaino, Managing Director, ISA100 Wireless Compliance Institute. “We look forward to Armstrong’s contributions at ISA100 WCI.

WEG strengthens its position in the oil & gas sector!

WEG has achieved approved supplier status for two global oil and gas companies, strengthening its position as a leading supplier to the industry. WEG, manufacturer of drive technology, automation equipment, power generation/ distribution solutions and electric motors, has been approved by Scandinavia’s Aker Solutions and Italy’s Eni S.p.A to deliver its reliable and energy efficient solutions, enabling customers to increase operational efficiencies and improve bottom-line results.

WEG has been categorised as a Level A supplier by Aker Solutions’ sourcing Supplier Qualification System. WEG earned a high score of 95 out of 100 on the Supplier Qualification System, which evaluates categories including quality management, health and safety, supply chain management, human resources, process management and operational results.

“We are delighted that we have been recognised as providing excellent solutions and have achieved approved supplier status with these two renowned global leaders in the oil and gas markets,” says Marek Lukaszczyk, European & Middle East Marketing Manager at WEG. “This status cements our position as an expert.”

WEG provides the highest levels of energy efficiency and protection in hazardous environments and its equipment is reliable in the harsh operating environments found in the oil and gas industry, from reservoir to production and through the life of a field.

WEG’s W22Xd flameproof motor meets worldwide standards and has recently achieved certification to meet European ATEX and International IECEx requirements. The WEG W22XdB/W22XdC and W22XdM flameproof motors are specially designed to meet the certification requirements for equipment installed in oil and gas and mining hazardous areas respectively.

WEG works with OEM pump suppliers and major oil and gas companies worldwide to help them realise energy cost savings and its optimised motors and drives provide energy efficient operation in some of the most arduous applications and prestigious offshore oil projects.

More productivity with optimally cushioned pneumatic cylinders!

Festo, the leading supplier in automation equipment, has issued a new whitepaper “More productivity with optimally cushioned pneumatic cylinders” to help engineers and designers understand the advantages and disadvantages of various cushioning technologies, so they can improve their processes.

Free to download from their website, the whitepaper clearly outlines the benefits of end-position cushioning systems in pneumatic drives and highlights the latest end-position cushioning technology for pneumatic cylinders.

“Good end-position cushioning decreases the impact forces generated by changing loads and extreme dynamic stress – factors that play a crucial role in defining the travel time and speed of pneumatic cylinders,” says Steve Sands, product manager at Festo.

With the right end-position cushioning, machine builders can significantly increase the efficiencies of their entire pneumatic systems and when used to its full effect, it can improve cycle times and even reduce the size of the components used.

Predictive-diagnostic software and services improves uptime, reliability & equipment insight!

Statoil has chosen GE’s Proficy® SmartSignal predictive-diagnostic software and services from GE’s Industrial Performance & Reliability Center (Industrial-PRC) to improve the uptime and increase the reliability of heavy rotating equipment such as gas turbines, generators and compressors. Statoil, headquartered in Stavanger, Norway, is the largest Oil & Gas operator on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and operates more than 30 offshore platforms, in addition to onshore facilities such as gas treatment, crude oil reception, refinement and methanol production. In considering Proficy SmartSignal, Statoil was looking for a solution with a proven track record that demonstrated timely payback while ensuring consistent implementation quality. As a result of a competitive proposal process Statoil chose GE Intelligent Platforms’ Proficy SmartSignal solution, with a strong focus on the technical solution as well as the commercial aspects. GE completed the rollout and “go live” of the 50 equipment items (assets) in the initial phase in a little more than eight weeks. The company intends to implement GE’s software as part of its ‘Condition Monitoring Predictive Analytics’ (CMPA) solution, initially for its offshore fleet. They are currently considering expansion of the solution to onshore and across its other regional business units. “With Statoil’s fleet of gas turbines and its large Bently Nevada installation, adding Proficy SmartSignal provides the greatest value solution for providing the foresight to help Statoil move towards becoming a fully proactive organization,” said Brian Courtney, General Manager for GE Intelligent Platforms’ Industrial Data Intelligence business. “The Industrial-PRC is staffed with oil & gas experts, which provides low risk and high value to Statoil by ensuring the proper adoption of the SmartSignal solution.” Proficy SmartSignal matched well with existing work processes and software tools used by Statoil’s Condition Monitoring Centre. Proficy SmartSignal predictive-diagnostic software identifies equipment problems and helps avoid unexpected shutdowns. The software identifies developing faults utilizing exception-based, prioritized, ‘apparent cause’ diagnostics. This monitoring and diagnostic capability runs, 24 hours per day, seven days per week. GE’s Industrial-PRC monitors more than 50 sites and 4,000 high-valued assets worldwide processing terabytes of data to predict equipment failures.

Electromagnetic flowmeter!

Magnetrol has introduced the Polaris electromagnetic flow meter, which is capable of measuring liquids with a conductivity as low as 5 µS/cm in closed pipes. It is an accurate and repeatable flow meter that is suitable for a variety of water based and sludge flow applications.

This transmitter is backlit and rotatable with the capability of measuring forward and reverse flow rates, as well as total volume. HART® protocol allows the use of PACTwareTM for configuration and diagnostics. The sensor can be flanged or wafer style and is available with an assortment of standard liners and electrode materials.

The POLARIS transmitter is the first liquid flow meter offered by MAGNETROL, expanding the already diverse level and flow measurement portfolio that has been established over the last 80 years.

Next generation Fork Viscosity Meter!

Direct insertion Micro Motion® Fork Viscosity Meter is designed for demanding applications where accurate, fast-response viscosity and density monitoring is required

Micro Motion® Fork Viscosity Meter, the next generation of the market-leading Micro Motion 7827 and 7829 direct insertion viscosity and density meters has been announced by Emerson. Incorporating the same rugged and reliable tuning fork design as its predecessors, the Fork Viscosity Meter is built to tackle demanding process applications such as oil fired heater combustion control, HFO blending/production and pump protection.

In applications where accurate, fast-response viscosity and density monitoring is required, this instrument is the ideal choice. The meter helps solve problems customers face on a daily basis, such as reducing oil fired heater combustion emissions, minimising cutter-stock usage in HFO blending and reducing contamination risks on multi-product pipelines.

The Fork Viscosity Meter incorporates a hazardous area approved head-mounted transmitter that has the flexibility to connect to control systems via a wide range of digital and analogue protocols. Because it supports 4-20mA, HART, WirelessHART, FOUNDATION fieldbus and RS485 Modbus, system integration and start-up/commissioning costs are significantly reduced.

An additional benefit of the Fork Viscosity Meter is the capability of accepting and processing external signals from other field instrumentation such as temperature, pressure and mass/volumetric flow devices. The input of these external measurements enables the Fork Viscosity Meter to calculate and output enhanced process measurements while minimising installation and cabling costs.

The Fork Viscosity Meter also incorporates a new diagnostic capability called Known Density Verification that checks the meter for measurement alarm conditions, sensor integrity and the presence of coating, erosion or corrosion. This new technology expands the availability of diagnostics information in critical viscosity and density measurement applications which can result in significant maintenance costs and cycle time reductions.

Wireless receiver with TCP/IP-interface!

For the integration of wireless switchgear in Ethernet networks

As wireless technology spreads through industrial automation, possible connections to superordinate communication networks are also on the increase. One example of this is the .steute TCP/IP receiver.

This bidirectional gateway enables switchgear from the steute Wireless range to be connected to terminals which communicate via the universal Internet/Ethernet protocol TCP/IP. It can receive and pass on signals from up to 40 sensors.

The interface corresponds to the IEEE 802.3 standard, with a transmission rate of 100/10 Mbit/s. Configuration of the wireless Ethernet gateway takes place via a web-based interface which supports both initial operation and diagnosis. The gateway is linked using a RJ45 connector.

The TCP/IP receiver is available in three versions: for the sWave 868 and sWave 915 wireless technologies developed by steute especially for industry, as well as for the EnOcean standard which is frequently found in the context of building automation. It is also well suited to use in combination with all the switches, sensors and push-buttons in the steute Wireless range.