Providing problem solving and educational information for topics related to industrial steam, hot water systems, industrial valves, valve automation, HVAC, and process automation. Have a question? Give us a call at (800) 892-2769 | www.meadobrien.com
The electromagnetic signal converter IMT30A is a used for measuring volumetric flow in various kinds of applications that can be found in the water industry and food and beverage processing. The IMT30A can be used together with Foxboro flow sensors 8400A, 8500A, 9500A, 9600A and 9700A with outputs representing measured values for flow, mass and conductivity.
Industries
Water & Wastewater
Food & Beverage
Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning (HVAC)
Agriculture
Steel
Applications
Water and wastewater treatment Water distribution network Irrigation installation
Limitorque Fluid Power Systems (LFPS) is the Flowserve Limitorque division that builds fluid power actuators, specifically pneumatic, gas, and hydraulic scotch yoke design cylinder valve actuators. These are used on larger, higher torque requirement valves primarily applied in the oil and gas industries.
GAS POWERED ACTUATORS
The Limitorque LDG direct gas actuator is designed to operate on high pressure pneumatic supply, including pipeline gases, nitrogen and any other equivalent high pressure source. Based on Limitorque’s high efficiency scotch-yoke modules, the self-contained system includes both the gas powered actuation unit and the high pressure gas control circuit. This makes it a robust and efficient way of providing reliable pipeline valve automation, even when no external motive power supplies are present. Limitorque’s advanced design criteria together with the full pressure rated controls allow higher torque output within a smaller dimensional envelope, thus reducing gas use and exhaust, and limiting pipeline product waste and environmental impact.
HYDRAULIC ACTUATORS
LHS and LHH are Limitorque’s range of hydraulic, quarter-turn, scotch yoke actuators. Designed to meet or exceed the most current and stringent safety and reliability standards for application in the oil and gas industry LHS and LHH are suitable for on/off and modulating control of all quarter-turn valves. Limitorque scotch yoke actuators deliver reliable torque ranges up to 300 kNm (221 268 ft-lb) in a low displacement, compact dimensional envelope with a maximum allowable working pressure (MAWP) of 207 barg (3000 psig) for the LHS series and 345 barg (5000 psig) for the LHH series.
PNEUMATIC ACTUATORS
Limitorque’s LPS and LPC are pneumatic quarter turn scotch yoke actuators, featuring a robust design suitable for heavy duty services, and among the longest design lifespans and maintenance intervals in the industry. Limitorque’s high torque LPS (up to 500000 Nm / 369,000 ft-lbs) and compact LPC (up to 5500 Nm / 4056 ft-lb) are the actuators of choice for effective on/off, modulating and control applications of quarter-turn valves in all general and protective services, in the most severe environments.
Wet steam is a costly problem across many industries. It causes product quality issues with batch rejection, wet packs and wet loads in sterilizers. Wet culinary steam can make food grade quality of product impossible. Carbon dioxide in a system with wet steam creates carbonic acid that damages pipes. A slug of water causes water hammering, which is destructive and can be deadly. Wet steam causes many flowmeters to be inaccurate, so that if you buy steam from a third party, you may be paying for water rather than steam. Water abrades like sand in a steam pipe and will erode pipes, elbows, valves and other components. Wet steam reduces heat transfer. Wet steam can damage turbines. And wet steam causes thermal stress as condensate cools down.
In fact, steam quality typically refers to the amount of water in the steam, which is also known as dryness fraction. Saturated steam is a mixture of steam and water. The water is often in the form of un-vaporized micro droplets. Dryness fraction is a ratio. The mass of the steam to the mass of the biphasic mixture of water and steam. Part of the difficulty in measuring the steam dryness fraction is that steam systems are dynamic. The steams is moving through the components and conditions change second-by-second. Within this complex system there are many things that contribute to water in the steam. For example, the bursting bubbles from the surface of the boiling water expels small droplets into the flow of steam. Or if there is a sudden increase in demand for steam that reduces pressure above the water, lowering the boiling point and increasing the violence of bubbling. This is sometimes called priming or carryover. Other forms of carryover include water in the system, because the water level in the boiler is too high. Or high concentrations of impurities in the boiler water that reduce the surface tension and so increase the agitation of the water surface. Impurities can also cause the formation of a stable foam above the water surface. This foam causes slugs of water to be intermittently discharged from the boiler along with the steam. Even poor insulation in pipes and valves leads to water in the steam as heat is lost and steam condenses. A steam trap might fail closed, particularly at the bottom of a separator, increasing the amount of condensate in the pipes. The design of steam pipe work and steam traps may be inadequate to handle condensate, or a steam separator may be defective.
Armstrong Steam QM-1
Any of these things individually or in combination can cause a problem with dryness fraction. Monitoring the dryness fraction of steam has long been a manual process, time-consuming, inconsistent, unreliable, and presents inherent safety and accuracy risks. Control of your steam quality depends on having consistent, accurate, timely information, and that's where the ArmstrongSteam QM-1 comes in.
The Armstrong steam quality monitor steam QM1 provides you with data logging and remote monitoring capabilities. The Steam QM-1 monitors and measures dryness fraction and alerts you of steam quality problems. The video below explains how.
With monitoring by the Steam QM-1 you can:
Manage process quality when injecting steam
Ensure foodgrade quality of steam when producing culinary steam
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Neles Controls, a unit of Metso Automation, is a manufacturer of high quality rotary control valves,
on/off valves, actuators, positioners, emergency shutdown valves (ESD), digital valve position
control products and severe service specialty valve products.
As experts in valve automation, process instrumentation, steam systems and hot water systems, Mead O'Brien provides solutions to industrial companies in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas Panhandle, Southern Illinois, Western Kentucky, and Southwest Indiana.
Specializing in Power, Refining, Chemical, Food & Beverage, Oil & Gas, Heavy Industrial, Water & Wastewater, and HVAC, Mead O’Brien provides it's customers outstanding products, superior customer service, a team of highly skilled technicians, and decades of application experience.
These assets, in combination with their track record of successful outcomes and loyal customer base, positions Mead O'Brien as the perfect partner for all your process control equipment needs.
Electric actuators use electrical power to actuate a valve. While most of the basic technology used in
electric actuators has been around since the 1930s, decades of incremental improvement have significantly increased their functionality while dramatically reducing their cost. In recent years, these advances have reached a tipping point that makes electric actuators the first choice for a wide variety of applications.
Pros
Electric power is relatively inexpensive, easy to manage, and normally available to most industrial sites. The capital cost of electric actuators is typically cheaper per equivalent unit of torque/thrust output. They’re also cleaner and safer to operate.
Electric actuators can provide superior positioning accuracy for control or modulating valve functions, which can include provisions for a high degree of process monitoring, data logging and information feedback.
All necessary control functions are integral to electric actuators, reducing capital costs.
Electric actuators significantly reduce control wiring costs by enabling distributed control. They simplify control logic by integrating control commands and feedback into customer SCADA or DCS systems. (Traditional electromechanical control systems require a dedicated wire for each command and feedback signal, leading to cable bundles with seven or more cores as minimum for each actuator. By contrast, a typical bus system can use one twisted pair wire in a daisy chain configuration to carry all required input and output signals.)
As torque and thrust requirements increase, electric actuators weigh less and have smaller footprints compared to pneumatic actuators.
Electric actuators may be combined with external gearboxes to produce extremely high output thrust and torque values.
Cons
With the exception of a few specific configurations, electric actuators can’t guarantee a fail-safe stroke but will “fail in the last position.” (Fail-safe stroke refers to an actuator’s ability to move a valve to a predefined safe position when power fails).
Electric actuators have more complex and sensitive components than the mechanical parts used in other types of actuators. Electronic technology also requires periodic refreshing to keep pace with component changes and improvements.
Beyond a certain size/torque range, electric actuators are less cost-effective and generally have limitations in operating speed when compared to pneumatic and hydraulic actuators.
In hazardous areas with potential exposure to explosive process media, electric actuators require more specific certifications and construction features to be considered safe for use.
Recommended applications
Electric actuation is the first choice for most oil and gas applications. They’re ideal for general process valve automation, non-critical applications, and light-duty modulating applications (generally up to 1200 starts per hour), although some can modulate continuously up to 3600 starts per hour.
