Plant & Facilities Engineering News

The list of industrial products that use extreme heat as part of the manufacturing process includes petroleum, industrial gases, steel, and many more. Monitoring the heating vessels has always been difficult. Fiber optic sensors and thermocouples are the traditional answer, but the same heat that they monitor means these sensors will begin to degrade the day they are installed. Thermal cameras provide real-time information that can be stored in a manufacturing execution system or maintenance software, reducing maintenance time and enhancing predictive capabilities, which helps to eliminate hot spots that can lead to ruptures and subsequent loss of life and property.

Chromalox heavy duty blower heaters are rated from 2 to 50 kW. These heaters feature extra heavy construction for use in dirty, corrosive environments. Some models are available with NEMA 4X control enclosures and stainless steel construction to resist dirt contamination, chemical attack, and are capable of being hosed down.

Liqui-Cel® Membrane Contactors are compact, modular devices used to add or remove gases to/from liquids without chemicals. Thousands of customers utilize Liqui-Cel^® technology to control corrosion, improve yields, increase EDI /CDI efficiency, carbonation and nitrogenation, and for many other applications. Contact us to request a system sizing.

Get to know ANSI. We bring great minds together through standards, conformity assessment, and accreditation activities. As the sole U.S. member to ISO and coordinator of U.S. standards work, ANSI offers unique opportunities for not only professional development, but also provides the forum to improve safety, interoperability, competitiveness, and productivity.

Ramco Safety Shields promote plant safety by detecting, controlling, and preventing hazardous sprayouts from hitting people or equipment. Our products are available in many different high performance materials to match your application requirements. Safety shields are available for flanges, valves, expansion joints, pumps, and many other pipe fittings.

Barcode and RFID printers have revolutionized inventory and warehouse management, from incoming stock to returns. To get an extra boost in productivity, put the printer on wheels and run it across your wireless LAN. Mobile printers can pay for themselves in less than a year, especially if you already have a wireless network in place. After that, it's all gravy.

Tired of aftermarket safety solutions that slow productivity and don't do their job? This Webcast talks about designing safety systems into your machines so they don't adversely affect productivity, while complying with regulations and speeding maintenance by using advanced machine diagnostics.

Resistance welding robots are a common sight on an automotive assembly line because they're faster than humans and more repeatable. But robots cannot control everything, especially the delicate interplay between welding electrode and underlying material. New adaptive control systems promise to provide real-time feedback for these systems, eliminating the need to do batch-level ultrasonic or destructive testing to make sure the welder is working properly. (Access to originating article may require registration).

Food packagers are always looking for better ways to prepare pre-cooked meals for shipping. This new system combines microwave and pressure-cooking in a single step. The process maintains food cell integrity, doesn't bleach the food, and delivers "best before" dates of up to 90 days.

Cimclean® is an extensive line of products designed to meet the needs of the most difficult cleaning environments, is the product of choice among shop supervisors around the world. Cimclean is part of the CIMCOOL family of metalworking fluids, which include the most technologically advanced fluids available for industrial operations.

The Power-Vee with automatic feed makes it easy to clear small drain lines from 1-1/4 in. to 3 in. in diameter. To feed the cable, just start the Power-Vee and squeeze the feed lever.

•  Quickly clear sinks, tubs, roof vents, and laundry drains.
•  Automatic feed drives and retrieves at up to 16 fpm. See it in action...

Introducing Vibrant Technology, Inc.'s newest product, the MechaniCom Machine Surveillance System: a plug-n-play, 24/7, real-time continuous monitoring and predictive maintenance solution for your rotating and reciprocating machinery. Measure any desired parameter, set alert/alarm/abort thresholds, trend historical data, and visually monitor machine status on a 3D animating model.

Ensure your workforce has the technical skills and expertise necessary to sustain and grow your business. The fully accredited PLC Technician program will prepare them to install, maintain, program, and operate PLC's in industrial systems. Includes PLC simulation software based on the Allen-Bradley format. Request more information now!

In football, the fans are the 12^th man. But in modern maintenance departments where sluggish economies have led to repeated labor cuts, there is no 12^th man, and often, the same can be said of the 11^th and 10^th man, too. Adding intelligence to your automation systems for remote diagnostic support can provide that 12^th helper without having to convince management to expand the maintenance department.

These days, it's a rare industrial or public facility that doesn't have some form of automated building control system. However, layout changes, expansions, and aging equipment mean that eventually you will have to look at tuning or replacing the system. This four part article can help you survey what you have, select the right combination of controls for your facility, justify the upgrade, and manage the entire project for maximum savings.

The 4520A contact-less torque sensor costs about the same as a slip-ring torque sensor, but uses frequency modulation signal transmission to communicate torque force from the shaft to your control system, reducing wear and making the device practically maintenance free. The sensor samples the torque 60x per revolution and comes in 10 models, with torque ratings ranging from 1 to 1,000 Nm.

This free return-on-investment (ROI) calculator shows you how choosing a high end video card for your CAD system can cut design times by up to 24%, equal to 235 hours per year for an engineer spending 50% of her day on CAD designs. The calculator is the perfect tool for showing why your boss should pay a few hundred dollars more for the high end system and save $20,000 or more in labor.

The CM Hurricane 360 has a patented hand chain cover that rotates a full 360 degrees to allow for positioning, pulling, and lifting of loads from virtually any angle. It's flexibility allows it to be used in just about any application; like in this application video where the user is above the load.

Quickly read levels in plastic drums save time and money with this easy-to-use economical tool that measures inventory in your drums. Accurate, battery powered C-Level™ holds calibration even when removed from the container. Ideal for noncontact measurement of hazardous materials. Monitor nonmetallic container levels efficiently with inexpensive C-Level™.

Why buy nitrogen when you can produce your own on site for a fraction of the cost? On site nitrogen generators can produce nitrogen from compressed air and are available in a wide range of flow capacities and purities.

Call Advanced Gas Technologies today and start cutting nitrogen costs!

With its innovative multi-channel controller technology and state-of-the-art SMART (Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) sensors, the Millennium II Gas Detector is exceptionally versatile. With the optional dual channel option you can cover more area with a single transmitter and mix and match all sensor types.

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