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Date Published:
24 May 2015

Volume 3, Issue 3


Single rolling diaphragm valve saves the day

Feature
Yarra Valley Water (YVW) is the largest of Melbourne’s three water corporations, providing water supply and sewerage services to over 1.7 million people and over 50,000 businesses in the northern and eastern suburbs of Melbourne. The district covers approximately 4,000km2 from as far north as Wallan and extending to Warburton in the east. They maintain over 9,000km of water mains and nearly... [read more]

The Shutter Valve continues to impress

Feature
What is surprising is that for such an integral part of our society there has been little to no innovation in the world of valves in over 50 years. Since the early 1960s, mankind has made telephones portable, put a rover on Mars and can even squeeze an entire computer into a wrist watch. Yet when it comes to the ever important subject of valves, innovation has been, for lack of a better word,... [read more]

In the dock

Feature
Peel Ports, owner of Mersey Docks, is the latest port authority to take advantage of pump supplier AxFlow’s re-engineering facilities at Huddersfield, UK. The Canada and Wallasey Docks on the north and south banks of the River Mersey are each equipped with four double entry split-case Gwynnes impounding pumps. These pumps have been operating for the best part of 50 years and have performed... [read more]

Blast-proof

Feature
specialises in the production of reactive organometallic compounds and silanes. The products are used as a catalyst in the pharmaceutical and plastics industries and in several production processes of semiconductor devices and photovoltaic modules. For conveying different solvents, white oil and thermal oil, the company was looking for a mobile pump which could also be used in the potentially... [read more]

Processing acids in Jeddah

Feature
The city of Jeddah is one of the largest urban commercial centres in Saudi Arabia, with large investment into science and manufacturing industries. The city is also considered Saudi Arabia’s largest resort, due to its proximity to the Red Sea. Due to the economic success of the city, the population has grown rapidly in recent years, growing from 2 million in 1994 to 3.4 million by 2010 and... [read more]

Optimisation in filter press feeding process

Feature
A North German company specialising in the production of edible oils contacted the Swiss pump manufacturer, Emile Egger, with the goal of improving the production processes, in particular for the filter press feeding of raw edible oils with filtration aids and of oils for the production of biodiesel. Egger has worked intensively on the design of filter press feeding and can already look back on... [read more]

Utilising peristaltic pumps

Feature
At the end of its life, a car yields on average, 140kg of shredder waste: 26kg of metals, 69kg of plastics, 11kg of minerals and 24kg of fibres. In Tiel, Netherlands, a Post Shredder Treatment plant (PST) was built by Auto Recycling Netherlands (ARN) in 2011 for the recycling of cars. The PST plant is one of the two plants in Europe that are able to recycle to approximately 95% of the waste... [read more]

How to select diaphragms for AODD pumps

Feature
Selection of the right diaphragm for an air-operated double-diaphragm (AODD) pump is a critical consideration for safety, efficiency and trouble-free operations. A number of factors must be taken into account when choosing the proper diaphragm that will be suitable for a specific application. Previous experience is always a helpful guide, but new applications will often require research and... [read more]

Waste not, leak not

Feature
In an ideal world industrial pumps would not leak. In the real world there are good reasons why a majority of pumps do leak, and by design are intended to do so. These are pumps that rely on dynamic sealing (usually now a mechanical seal) at the drive shaft to contain the liquid being pumped and keep it separate from the pump’s drive mechanism. Leakage by intent is confined to a very few... [read more]

Maximising a pump's lifespan

Feature
While a number of new technologies and processes have transformed the engineering sector, the industrial pump remains at the core of many industrial operations, including water treatment works, chemical plants, HVAC, oil refineries and food and beverage production. Playing such a pivotal role means that the pump requires a high level of maintenance and monitoring in order for it to remain in good... [read more]

Energy in the city

Feature
The City of Charlotte, North Carolina, US, employs five strategically located wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to support about 805,000 customers in its service area. The City embarked upon an ambitious plan to generate up to 15% of its largest plant’s electrical power needs from a renewable and essentially free biogas energy source. The potential exists to generate even more power in... [read more]

Flow measurement in remote locations

Feature
Increasing industrial output, efficiency and the proper management of ever diminishing resources has become a mighty task for companies all over the world. As governments and environmental bodies continue to pass tougher legislation on resource management and pollution controls, companies are looking for smarter technologies to centralise their decentralised resource monitoring systems. The... [read more]

Flowmeter system with simplified operating principle

Feature
Anyone who works with electronic instruments understands the problem. Manufacturers have a tendency to provide their devices for operation, start-up and maintenance with ever more keys, switches and menu levels, often at the expense of clarity and user friendliness. The operating principle chosen for Lutz flowmeters shows that there is another option – simplicity. Today’s flowmeters... [read more]

A game changer for infusion therapies

Feature
Smart infusion pumps have become a ubiquitous sight in many clinical settings. They deliver medication to a patient´s body in a controlled, precise, and automated manner and offer tremendous benefits to both patients and clinical personnel. However, these benefits are not without risks, as statistics from medical device reports show. Between 2003 and 2009, over 56,000 medical device reports... [read more]

Sensors 101 In the world of fluid control systems

Feature
In the world of fluid control systems today, very little can be achieved without the raw data supplied by sensors, which need to be carefully specified to ensure that they are suited to their application. These sensors can help facilitate a variety of tasks from displaying process information and performing control functions to operating alarms, but each one has to communicate information to a... [read more]

Precision in detection

Feature
Leaks pose a potential safety risk. They occur for a wide variety of reasons, from earthquakes, corrosion and material failure to drilling by product thieves. Special leak detection systems are often used to limit these risks. In general, leak detection in pipelines refers to the recognition and quick localisation of product leaks. Reasons to employ leak detection include the following: • To... [read more]

Damage prevention

Feature
The global oil and gas industry is currently facing challenging times. Escalating operational costs and tax payments have coincided with a time where global oil prices have fallen, leading to increasing financial constraints across the industry. This has significantly impacted exploration companies in particular, many of whom are failing to hit targets for new well deployment, casting doubts over... [read more]

Performance testing for condensers

Feature
Low production was causing headaches for the maintenance crew at a peptone concentration plant – the complex interaction of the condenser, the cooling tower and the vacuum pump meant that there were several possible causes. The suggestion to take the entire system off line for a couple of days to check and service every part was not well received by the plant manager, but another solution... [read more]