Automation Parts

Dryers Operate Without Water Or Compressed Air Summit Systems has introduced a range of absorbing dryers with capacities from just 1.3kg/h. Summit said that its Dryplus series offers at least a 40 per cent lower energy consumption when compared with old twin tower desiccant drying technology. Based on a four-stage circuit, the dryer is designed to constantly operate at maximum performance to ensure an efficient drying process. Other designs only employ a three-stage system, offering a dewpoint of -35C to -40C. The Dryplus has a dewpoint range from -35C to -55C. This lower dewpoint reduces the stress on the material and optimises its viscosity in the processing equipment, while cutting down on energy use. Other specific features include an automatic, intelligent set-up mode where operators need only input the type of material and the desired output. A countdown timer on the display indicates when the material is dry and ready to be used, so that it cannot be over dried. Summit offers a...

The Touch Control from Metrohm, in conjunction with the 890 KF Titrino, is a Karl Fischer (moisture analyser) for water determinations. The Touch Control is said to be ergonomic and modern, with no need for a computer. It can be held by hand, placed on a laboratory bench or attached to a stand or the wall in order to save space and protect it from chemicals. The colour display informs the user about the instrument status and offers comfortable and intuitive user guidance. Keys can be locked out, so much of the analysis can be completed with one button press. The Touch Control is equipped with two PCMCIA interfaces that accept commercially available storage media, such as Compact Flash cards. This ensures that there is sufficient memory space available for methods, data and system backups. Access control is possible with the personal keycard.

Lamellas Increase Water Treatment Efficiency A city in the north of England needed to increase its drinking water supply and decided to achieve this by upgrading an existing treatment plant. A more traditional/conventional method of sludge settlement was replaced by Nordic Water Lamellas, leading to increases in efficiencies of maintenance and operation. Carlisle is a city with a population of around 70,000 people on the north-west coast of England. A shortfall in drinking water supply for the Carlisle area was identified in 1998. There followed a six-year period of consultation, environmental studies, planning and design. During this period of preparation, more than 100 interest groups were notified and meetings were held with more than 30 organisations, before construction started in 2004. The scheme involved a GBP16m upgrading of the existing water treatment plant at Cumwhinton both to increase capacity and to reduce the risk of crytospordium. The flow for the plant is taken pre...

John Neale Creates Water-Based Rust Inhibitor John Neale has developed Rust Preventive FC-X: a water-based rust inhibitor that has given a 1,000-hour salt-spray performance in independent tests. High-performance long-term outdoor corrosion inhibitors have typically been based on oxidised waxes with other additives in solvents. The solvents used are volatile organic compounds (VOCs), the emissions of which need to be reduced. The solvents are also often flammable or of low flash point, have exposure limits and can cause skin de-fatting. These products can, however, offer high-performance de-watering and long-term corrosion inhibition. According to the company, there is now a desire for rust preventives to give new performance characteristics. These include: a dry film, which means that dust and dirt will not adhere to it; non-VOC; and renewable or renewable-based. Rust Preventive FC-X is said to achieve all these requirements. It is a renewable-based inhibitor with negligible VOC ...

Turbidity Analyser Monitors Water Quality The Triton TR8 turbidity analyser, from Electro-Chemical Devices, provides water quality monitoring using a multi-beam optical sensor, intelligent electronics and self-cleaning technology. The Triton TR8 TA's sensor measures turbidity with a multi-beam optical assembly. The first light beam is a reference detector that compensates for changes in the LED light source caused by ageing or other variables. The second light beam detects the short path length, which is best for high concentration measurement. The third light beam measures the longer path length, which is best for lower concentrations. With its intelligent microprocessor-based design, the Triton TR8 TA's sensor electronics constantly adjusts turbidity signal readings versus the reference detector for measurement accuracy. A built-in digital filter helps to suppress potentially interfering signals while self-monitoring diagnostics assure reliability. The Triton TR8 TA...

Fluid Metering's Chloritrol valveless metering-system accurately injects liquid sodium and calcium hypochlorite for treating municipal drinking water. The Chloritrol system is a valveless duplex pump design. The primary pump injects liquid hypochlorite directly into the water main. The secondary pump removes out-gas bubbles from the system, preventing loss of prime. The Chloritrol will self prime against pressures up to 125psi. Internal components are made of sapphire-hard ceramics, which provide long-term drift-free accuracy. Flow rate is controlled by FMI's Model V300 Variable Flow Controller, which accepts 4-20mA, 0-5V DC and 0-10 V DC signals from process sensors and instrumentation. Flow rate can be manually controlled. The Chloritrol also features panel membrane switches and LED readout. The size of the system and its energy consumption are a fraction of that of conventional injection pumps. The Chloritrol is also suitable for adding sodium hypochlorite to municipal...