New Products & Services
January 2020
Alfa Laval
LKD and LKDC tank covers securely fit the openings of high-, low- or non-pressure tanks, both above and below the liquid level. Two different models are offered for hygienic processes. The circular LKDC stainless-steel tank cover (photo) is used on top of tanks or containers. It is supplied with a replaceable, self-sealing double-lip seal to prevent fluids from spraying out, for example, during clean-in-place (CIP) and similar processes. The oval-shaped LKD stainless-steel tank cover is used on tanks or containers in various hygienic industries. For personnel entry, the cover can either be removed at the double hinge or swung out of the tank. The seal is not affected by positive or negative pressure in the tank. The LKD and LKDC inspection and personnel-entry ports are approved in compliance with the American 3-A Sanitary Standard and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The tank covers are available in 304 or 316L stainless steel with several options for seal materials and surface finishes. — Alfa Laval, Lund, Sweden
Sterling Systems & Controls
This company’s Micro and Tote Batching Systems (photo) are customized, automatic ingredient-batching systems for both liquid and dry materials. These systems typically include supply bins, feeders, work platforms, automatic or manual bin refilling, liquid tank/pump skid equipment and the dry- and liquid-dosing automatic control system. Optional equipment may include raw-material bag lift equipment, dust collection and control for high-dust dry materials, batch-material conveying equipment (such as mechanical drag conveyor), lot tracking and traceability, barcode scanning and more. High accuracy can be attained — to within 0.001 lb or 0.5 g is possible, depending on applications. Liquid dosing includes high-accuracy Coriolis flow-metering devices and pumping systems. — Sterling Systems & Controls, Inc., Sterling, Ill.
Beckhoff Automation
With the new CU8210-M001 cabinet dome (photo), the USB port of an Industrial PC can be fed out of the control cabinet and still be well protected, establishing reliable and powerful wireless connections to the control computer without having to use attenuation-prone antenna cables. When combined with the appropriate CU8210-D00x USB 2.0 sticks, which are available for WLAN or 4G mobile communication, the cabinet domes support efficient and globally usable wireless solutions for PC-based control technology. The cabinet dome is designed to house industrial WLAN and mobile communication components and complies with IP 66 protection rating in the installed state. The components inside the housing dome, such as the USB 2.0 sticks for wireless communication, are completely protected against physical contact, dust, spray water and water jets. — Beckhoff Automation GmbH & Co. KG, Verl, Germany
ITT Engineered Valves
The new BioviZion valve (photo) is an ultra-compact model available in diameters ranging from 0.25 to 0.5 in. for sampling and low-flow bioprocessing applications. BioviZion valves include a mechanical thermal-compensation system wherein a sealing force is constantly applied to prevent external leaking over a range of temperature changes. A quick-change bonnet is said to significantly reduce maintenance time tenfold. A patented diaphragm stud enables simple and quick installation. The valves’ high-strength stainless-steel studs avoid the challenges associated with small fasteners. — ITT Engineered Valves, Seneca Falls, N.Y.
Hermetic-Pumpen
This company has expanded its range of modular V-Line canned-motor pumps (photo) for the chemical and petrochemical industries. In addition to new accessories and more individualized documentation, the V-Line’s performance range now also includes compatibility with aggressive media and lower fluid temperatures down to –50°C. In conjunction with modified bearing clearance, the V-Line is also suitable for pumping any type of potentially explosive refrigeration media. Previously, the units were available in stainless-steel or cast-steel design. Now, cast-steel housings can also be combined with stainless-steel impellers. The product range is suitable for application with pumping heads from 12 to 295 m; volumetric flowrates from 1.0 to 130 m³/h; fluid temperatures from –50 to 120°C; power ratings from 8 to 48 kW; and pressure ratings from 16 to 40 bars. — Hermetic-Pumpen GmbH, Gundelfingen, Germany
Valley Forge & Bolt
Maxbolt load-indicating fasteners (photo) can reduce downtime, premature wear and catastrophic joint failures by continuously measuring and displaying the amount of tension in a bolt or stud. Each fastener has an accurate and durable load-monitoring device built in that indicates when proper load is achieved. During operation, technicians will know if load ever falls out of specification on any bolt, addressing the need immediately instead of waiting for critical equipment failure. Now, even inexperienced operators can assemble complex bolted joints with uniform clamp loads within±5% of design specification. With Maxbolt devices, measurements are based on tension and the inaccuracies of torque control are eliminated, ensuring optimal initial conditions before an assembly is placed into service. — Valley Forge & Bolt Mfg. Co. Phoenix, Ariz.
Gardner Denver Petroleum & Industrial Pumps
The new Thunder 5,000 hp Quintuplex pump (photo) is designed for duel-fuel gas engines, electric motors, diesel engines and gas-turbine direct drives. With stainless-steel construction and innovative geometry designed to minimize stress, the Thunder 5,000 hp Quintuplex pump features a range of next-generation fluid-end technologies. The pump’s 11-in. stroke length meets or exceeds the pressure and flow output of high rod load/short stroke (8 in.) pumps, and can increase consumable life by 37%, says the company. The Thunder 5,000 hp Quintuplex pump is offered in combination with Redline Packing. This is the critical seal system in the heart of the pump, which substantially improves performance in harsh conditions, extends maintenance intervals, reduces downtime and ultimately increases profit margins for users, says the company. — Gardner Denver Petroleum & Industrial Pumps, Houston
Rite-Hite
Dok-Vu is a paperless software system for managing logistics operations (photo). The new software virtually eliminates the need for spreadsheets and two-way radios, connecting managers, materials handlers, yard personnel and carriers in real time. It allows users to get an at-a-glance status on every dock and trailer, while enabling carriers to avoid lines by checking themselves in and out and receiving text alerts on unload status. Managers using Dok-Vu can oversee appointments, monitor dwell times, and help keep docks fully utilized, gaining better control of charges, labor costs and shipping accuracy. Thanks to its intuitive loading-dock dashboard, Dok-Vu also allows managers to review current trends and historical data to make more data-driven decisions and help identify operational improvement opportunities. — Rite-Hite Corp., Milwaukee, Wis.
SignalFire Wireless Telemetry
The Ranger remote-monitoring system (photo) is a cellular transmitter that uses the LTE network to connect industrial sensors to the cloud for remote monitoring, control and alarming. By connecting directly to the cloud, the Ranger bypasses local networks to offer a more secure connection. The Ranger is designed to work with a wide range of sensor types and brands, making it easily integrated into industrial monitoring systems. Cloud connectivity removes barriers in collecting data from assets located in difficult-to-reach locations, such as pipelines in mountainous terrain or vast, remote tank farms. The Ranger comes equipped with this company’s cloud interface, which allows users to remotely monitor assets, view trends and receive alarms either by text or email. It also provides for remote configuration and troubleshooting of the Ranger node and the sensor to which it is attached. — SignalFire Wireless Telemetry, Hudson, Mass.
Clariant Oil Services
The new Waxtreat SubZero Pour Point Depressant (PPD) technology (photo) will help oil production companies, especially those operating in cold-climate regions, overcome the challenges associated with the transportation of waxy crude oils and the mitigation of wax deposition. Waxtreat SubZero is a winterized PPD with innovative customization capabilities, enhancing performance while mitigating paraffin buildup, in crude-oil pipeline systems, at the same time reducing cost requirements associated with pipeline cleaning. Both laboratory and field data have demonstrated that the micro-dispersed polymers in Waxtreat SubZero can perform at significantly lower dose rates when compared to the alternative, winterized polymers in solution, to help contribute to an easier flow of oil. — Clariant Oil Services, Houston
Sulzer
The new Salomix family (photo) is designed to operate in demanding applications in various industries. The combination of maximum propeller efficiency and optimum agitator selection will reduce the overall power consumption of the mixing application significantly. The new Salomix family is a versatile mixer range of modular design that offers the right agitator option for each specific application. The Salomix side-mounted agitators meet the process requirements in a wide range of industries and applications where clean and slightly contaminated liquids, viscous liquids, as well as fibrous and other slurries, are agitated. The Salomix side-mounted agitator family includes SSF gear-driven agitators, SSA belt-driven agitators and SLR/STR gear-driven agitators. — Sulzer AG, Winterthur, Switzerland
Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture (OPC UA) enables the platform-independent, interoperable, and cross-vendor collaboration of production machines and makes communication between machines and systems possible — both in closed networks and via internet. For the first time, this company has incorporated OPC UA into IO-Link masters and is now introducing the ICE 2 (EtherNet/IP) and ICE3 (Profinet) master series in addition to the ICE1 masters that are used for PLC-based systems and time-critical applications. Both new IO-Link master series come with an OPC UA interface and a realtime fieldbus protocol, making them an ideal solution for cloud-based applications that are less time-sensitive. — Pepperl+Fuchs AG, Mannheim, Germany
Phoenix Contact
This company extended its Axioline I/O system portfolio to include plug-in, system-independent I/O Smart Elements (photo) featuring a compact design and up to 16 channels. The elements featuring IP20 degree of protection are inserted into an Axioline F backplane. Backplane modules allow four or six Smart Elements to be inserted and integrated into the Axioline F local bus. Thanks to a double row of slots, two I/O elements can be placed one above the other, thus allowing different functions to be accommodated in an overall width of 15 mm with up to 32 channels. I/O functions can be freely selected and combined by the user. — Phoenix Contact GmbH & Co. KG, Blomberg, Germany
Comsol
This company has introduced Version 5.5 of its Multiphysics software suite (photo), with new features including new sketching tools for easier modeling of planar drawings and several new add-on modules that tackle shape and topology optimization, nonlinear shells, random vibration, fast linear elastic-wave simulations and combined full-wave and ray-optics analysis. Version 5.5’s new Metal Processing Module provides modeling functionality for welding, heat-treatment and additive-manufacturing applications, while the new Porous Media Flow Module is used for processes handling food, pharmaceutical and biomedical products. The shape and topology optimization function provides useful analysis of chemicals, mechanical components, acoustics, electromagnetics and more. Users can also create their own add-in for customizing their workflow. — Comsol, Inc., Burlington, Mass.
GE Digital
Proficy Historian 8.0 (photo) provides users with a scalable solution for data collection and aggregation across deployments of any size, extending data migration from edge to cloud. Updates to Version 8.0 include tag mapping, advanced trend analysis with annotations and the ability to define an asset model, allowing users to put data into context with business needs. Proficy Historian software is tightly integrated with this company’s Proficy HMI/SCADA applications and Proficy Manufacturing Execution Systems. This integration enables operators to seamlessly manage machinery and plant processes. Also available is a Linux-based Proficy Historian that creates a standard time-series product for edge analytic applications. The Linux version of Proficy Historian pushes data to the plant level instead of polling from higher-level systems, providing a more efficient mechanism, according to the company. — GE Digital, San Ramon, Calif.
L.J. Star
The capabilities of MetaClamp and MetaGlas sight-glass windows have been expanded with the addition of light-emitting diode (LED) lighting technology. Designed for sanitary or hygienic applications in the pharmaceutical, food, beverage, brewery and biotechnology industries, the new MetaClamp LED Ring Light Series SGL (photo) provides both illumination and viewing through the same window. This combination sight and light glass incorporates the MetaClamp system with MetaGlas safety windows. They can be used to view the interior of either new or existing sanitary-processing equipment, such as bioreactors, mixers, brew kettles, filters, tanks, hoppers, silos, agitators, separators, pipelines and other usually closed containers in non-hazardous areas. Unlike other devices that use separate viewing and fiber-optic light assemblies, the MetaClamp LED Light Ring mounts directly onto sanitary ferrules for use in combined sight and light ports (single port). The design is both less expensive and more durable for industrial settings, since it uses fewer sub-assembly components. The unit is approved for ambient temperatures ranging from 0 to 50°C at the cable entry gland. — L.J. Star Inc., Twinsburg, Ohio
Endress+Hauser
The new generation of ISFET sensors (photo) is made of unbreakable polyether ether ketone (PEEK), which offers maximum product safety, accuracy and much improved clean-in-place (CIP) stability. ISFET pH sensors can be used in any application where glass PH sensors are not desirable due to challenging process conditions or risk of breakage. The use of glass sensors is avoided in applications in the food-and-beverage or life-sciences industries, since entire production batches could become contaminated in the event of glass breakage. The ISFET sensors made of PEEK are available with three different reference systems. The new ISFET sensors, Memosens CPS47D and CPS77D, are equipped to meet the strict demands of hygienic applications. They are said to deliver stable and reproducible measured values, even after sterilization and autoclaving up to temperatures of 135°C, and come with hygiene approvals for the food and life-sciences industries, such as USP, EHEDG and 3A. — Endress+Hauser AG, Reinach, Switzerland