Data is exploding around the world in every industry, and manufacturing is running into a logistics problem. With the increase in data points and measurements, how can we use it to efficiently organize and improve performance of our processes?
Energy Efficiency
The entire industry of manufacturing makes up a significant portion of global energy consumption, but on a per unit basis that has been decreasing continuously. Manufacturers are using data to work smarter and reduce their use of energy. The best use of data analysis for improving energy efficiency is determining untimely consumption and excess usage. It can also prioritize specific retrofits for machinery that consume more energy per unit than newer models.
Equipment Performance
By garnering data as granular as machine specific measurements a production manager can see troublesome machinery in detail, and plant managers can coordinate repairs or replacements before production is halted from breakdowns. In certain energy production situations catastrophe can be avoided before start-up by knowing the precise condition of pipelines and machinery.
Click here for the full article by Bill Kenworthy.
For years we have been preserving food through the application of extreme heat. Pasteurization has been the staple in protecting consumers by killing any harmful bacteria by heating a food item to a high enough temperature for a long enough duration. The exact temperature and duration are dependent on the pathogen the food is being treated against. A new method uses high pressure to achieve the same goal.
High Pressure Processing, HPP, sounds frightening in terms of food but in fact is less detrimental to nutritional characteristics than the common method. In common pasteurization temperatures used are so brutal that often vitamins and useful proteins breakdown, in the end the food is safe for consumption but at a degraded nutritional value. In HPP vitamins and proteins are not destroyed, but bacteria within the food item are ruptured.
Pressures used can reach 87,000 psi delivered via a pressurized water bath within a pressure chamber, and some even use moderate heat to further prevent spoilage in certain products.
HPP promises the same level of food safety that heat pasteurization does, but without damaging the nutrients in fruits and vegetables. According to Dr. Barrett, several studies have found that vitamin C is relatively unaffected by the process for instance.
Rotating process machinery depends on bearings, either rolling element bearings or fluid film bearings. These parts counteract gravity to keep the shafts moving as freely as possible without wear or excessive maintenance. The characteristics of each type of bearing leads to the maintenance, life span, and type of load possible for the application.
Babbitt is a widespread material for bearings. It allows for smooth start-up and shut-down while offering conform-ability and embed-ability reducing damage to the spinning shaft. Babbitt bearings must be limited to a maximum temperature of 130°C or warping may lead to misalignment. Bronze can be a substitute for Babbitt bearings for higher temperature applications but can be damaged more easily by contaminants.
Fluid film bearings depend heavily upon their design, and application specific designs can be highly specific. An operating pressure must be developed in the fluid to counteract gravity. Bearing clearance, the difference between the bearing bore and shaft diameter, greatly affects dynamic performance from temperature changes and power loss. Even the manner in which lubrication is introduced into the bearing can drastically change the performance. A flooded bearing will have higher power losses and operating temperatures than a directed lubrication bearings.
Click here for the full article from Processing Magazine.
Air supply is critical in many industries, sometimes surprisingly. Water treatment facilities are not the first buildings where one would expect air supply to vastly affect efficiency.
In water treatment plants for the Rubiera system, the process is built into four parallel pipelines, and compressors are used during the oxidization and nitrification portions of the process. The initial setup used compressors rated for much more capacity than was required by the facility, and as such the process was over-supplied for long periods of the day.
“The first step was to change the set-up, linking all the machines together. It was seen, in fact, that it would have been sufficient to use only one compressor for generating the process air during the period of less demand, but that compressor had to be very versatile and offer a wide range of capacity variations.”
Click here for the full article from Process Worldwide.
For when you need an exact amount of fluid moved from one spot to another, precision pumps will disburse exactly what you need when you need it. The two categories of precision dosage pumps are piston and diaphragm pumps.
Piston Pumps
These types of pumps are designed for continuous flows against a multitude of pressures, even upwards of 1000 Barg. A piston inside the pump recirculates up and down with seals to prevent leaks and create suction.
Diaphragm Pumps
Diaphragm pumps utilize a plastic membrane or multiples of membranes to create a vacuum and discharge the fluid. Because there is no direct contact with the pumping mechanics, these pumps are situated well for toxic, harmful, or abrasive fluids.
In selecting a valve for use plenty of characteristics must be suitable for your desired application. Readers recently asked Béla Lipták some questions regarding control valves and their characteristics. Some of the questions and answers are presented below. The complete list can be found at the link below.
What are the definitions of wide and small ranges in terms of flow turndown?
A control loop will be stable if its gain does not change with variations in the load. The loop gain is the product of four gains (process, controller, sensor, valve) and, ideally, it should stay constant at about 0.5. If the process gain varies with load and the sensor and controller gains are constant, the ideal valve characteristic is one that will compensate for the variation in process gain, so that if the process gain rises with load, the valve gain drops (equal percentage); if the process gain drops with load, the valve gain rises (quick opening) and if the process gain remains constant, the valve gain should also be constant (linear).
How would I go about measuring flow of hydrocarbons with 1% sand by mass included?
Either Coriolis or vortex can wear at a rate proportional to the percentage of sand in the flow, and both meters could have a short lives. Sharp-edge orifices are similarly vulnerable. The choice is affected by flow rate and pipe size.
I would worry about any Coriolis flowmeter with a relatively thin metal wall. Magnetic, ultrasonic and flow nozzles have been recommended. With a sufficiently high flow rate, an elbow meter will also work. Any DP meter might need a chemical seal or liquid purge to avoid plugging.
Click here for the full article on Control Global.
Given a specific set of characteristics for a fluid and the flow requirements of the system, pumps and fittings can easily be selected. Each pump is designed for a specific flow rate and head pressure, and fittings are built for specific applications. These optimized points are called best efficiency points, BEPs.
Common practice is to select a pump with a BEP slightly higher on a system pump curve than the situation calls for. While this practice is conservative, and avoids pumps stresses from impacting longevity, systems can use pumps slightly underrated for the application without worry. If the operating requirements are too far away from the pump BEP, vibrations can cause early failure.
“Selecting a pump that will operate near the minimum flow limits is just as risky as choosing one that will operate at the end of the curve.” –Pumps&Systems
Maintenance – what is it good for? Some companies invest the very least, or in some cases no time or funds at all in shutting down equipment for servicing. Other businesses have robust maintenance programs, making it part of their regular working schedule. Which is better? The following will discuss some of the reasons why flow meter calibration should be included in your operations.
For Long Life
Keeping equipment in excellent working order extends its life. When components are well-maintained, it saves your business money in the long run. The following are some of the industries that rely on flow meter calibration:
General Industry
Chemical and Petrochemical
Energy
Laboratory
Aerospace and Aviation
Pharmaceutical and Food
In each of the above sectors, well-made equipment and infrastructure can last many years beyond the manufacturer’s warranty, but because fabricated parts do not take care of themselves, they must be maintained.
To Promote Consistency
Each industry produces a product that consumers or businesses rely on. Take the energy industry as an example. Refineries and processing plants continuously produce a product that meets certain specifications. Flow meter calibration is one of the ways they can continue to provide a product of the same grade, octane or viscosity. Anything inconsistent in this industry can lead to machine failure or even dangerous outcomes.
To Meet Regulation
As you can tell from the industry list above, each field comes with its own set of regulations. The pharmaceutical sector is regulated by the FDA, and any failure to meet standards can result in consequences that end in significant profit losses and sometimes even a close of the business. There is no need to fear regulators if your operations are under compliance and in good working order.
For the Safety of All
Passenger airlines have gone out of business because of safety breaches, and bankruptcy is not even the big issue. Safety does not so much have to do with business as it does with lives. If a cargo plane goes down because of preventable equipment failure and a couple of lives are lost, it may not make as many headlines, but it is still unacceptable.
Why Let an Outside Firm Handle Calibration?
The best servicers do everything they can to prepare your flow meters for use in your facility. This usually means:
Testing and calibrating units under steady state flow
Using recognized standards and measurements rather than standards created “in house”
Controlling environmental factors such as temperature and pressure to match as closely as possible that of where the equipment normally operates
Outside firms perform rigorous inspections on units that can improve calibration results. They are capable of handling industrial cleaning such as removing mineral buildup or corrosion without damaging the equipment. If results still are not satisfactory, they can troubleshoot at a level that exceeds most persons outside of the calibration industry.
Maintenance can extend the life of flow meters, prevent unnecessary repairs, and improve safety, quality and consistency. A flow meter calibration company should be able to handle servicing for any brand of unit you may own. No matter the industry you work in, it is clear that keeping equipment in great working order is an investment that is worth every penny.
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Bearings reduce friction between two moving surfaces, and from that job they wear down and eventually break. To best keep bearings rolling for as long as they can, some maintenance is required in various parts of the lifespan.
Before Installation
Bearings are shipped and stored with a thin layer of manufacturing oil to preserve the bearing. If this coating is wiped off, smudged through handling, or dries out the bearing can rust or the lubrication can become useless. While storing bearings make sure to keep the bearing coated with preservative oils.
During Installation
Bearings are designed to have an interference shaft fit on the shaft during application. This fit is built into the dimensions and is accounted for. If a bearing is installed onto a shaft too big or too small, the difference in clearance can wear the bearing much quicker than specified.
Proper lubrication is necessary to reduce heat, and friction within the bearing itself. Due to the properties of lubricating oils, bearings may leak and can be sealed by silicone rings or sealing grease.
Ongoing Maintenance
Through continuous use of bearings, lubricating greases and oils with wear out just as much as the interior rollers in the bearing. Properly replacing and refilling the lubricant of a bearing will extend the life of the bearing. Some manufacturers provide charts for re-greasing intervals, check with the OEM of your bearing for details.
Human voices are unique to the individual and current technology has been used to restrict access to authorized personnel using voices as authentication. Now by identifying the voices of devices on control networks a possible new defense would filter legitimate signals and attacks.
“We have developed fingerprinting techniques that work together to protect various operations of the power grid to prevent or minimize spoofing of packets that could be injected to produce false data or false control commands into the system. This is the first technique that can passively fingerprint different devices that are part of critical infrastructure networks. We believe it can be used to significantly improve the security of the grid and other networks.” -Raheem Beyah Georgia Institute of Technology
The security techniques take advantage of the individual physical properties of each unique device. Security devices listening to the grid would differentiate devices that were authenticated to the grid, and identify illegitimate “noise” within the system. Furthermore, the system can use simple physics to flush out spoofing attempts. Depending on the physical configuration of breakers and valves, opening and closing procedures take a minimum amount of time. If a device gets a signal to open or close too soon after the last signal security staff would be notified of a possible attack.
Because they also include devices with measurable physical properties, Beyah believes the approach could have broad application to securing industrial control systems used in manufacturing, oil and gas refining, wastewater treatment and other industries.
Click here for the full article from Control Engineering.
